


I'm Right Here For You

by PitBullsRlife



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Anna has no idea what she's doing, Big Sister Anna, But actually does it pretty well, Elsa made mistakes but she's trying, F/M, Mommy!Anna sort of, The King and Queen had a third child after the accident, Then they died and Anna had to take over as parent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-02-22 13:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22949974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitBullsRlife/pseuds/PitBullsRlife
Summary: Anna loves her baby sister fiercely. Most days, Nora is her reason for getting up and facing yet another day locked within her own home. Sure she wishes she hadn't had to basically become a mother at fifteen when their parents died and the actually-an-adult Elsa still refused to come out of her room, but oh well. She would take early morning wake ups and negotiating the consumption of vegetables over the crippling loneliness of her pre-Nora life any day. But when Elsa's Coronation Day comes and Anna is given a front row seat to her older sister's reason for hiding away, life is almost certainly going to change. Hopefully for the better. Anna's life has revolved around Nora for years, maybe its time to help her other sister too. So alongside her new friend Kristoff and the inexplicably living snowman Olaf, Anna vows to make her family whole for the first time in forever.If only Elsa would cooperate.
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna & Kristoff (Disney), Anna & Olaf (Disney), Anna & Original Child Character (Nora), Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa & Kristoff (Disney), Elsa & Original Child Character (Nora), Kristoff & Original Child Character (Nora)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to my story. This will be a wild ride, and I am happy to welcome anyone who is interested in joining me. To be clear, at the beginning of this story, Elsa is 21, Anna is 18 (barely), and Nora is 5. The king and queen were lost at sea when Nora was one year and ten months old and Anna has been raising her ever since. Elsa is aware of Nora's existence but has never seen her in person.  
> Also, I am a collage student, so updates are not going to be on any guaranteed schedule until summer.  
> With no further ado, let's get on with the show.

On the day of Elsa’s coronation, Anna was woken by the same thing she had been every morning for the last three years: her little sister’s voice. Followed by a light poke to her cheek. Over and over.

“ _Anna.”_ Poke. _“Anna.”_ Poke. _“Anna.”_

Anna groaned and reached up to push away the insistent little hand. “I’m awake, Nora,” she sighed. She had long since learned to stop fighting this particular battle. She never won.

A smile tugged at Anna’s lips as a kiss was pressed to her cheek—the five-year-old’s usual not-actually-an-apology for dragging her older sister away from the world of dreams. Thankfully, the sweet gesture included significantly less spit now that Nora had moved past the toddler years and further into the realm of small child. Anna’s blue eyes blinked open to see identical ones peering at her from a small face directly across from her own. The owner of said face was staring intently at her, one hand still raised with pointer finger extended. The sun had only just begun to rise. It filtered through the gaps in the curtains covering the window, casting a soft glow on the wall and tinting Nora’s skin faintly orange.

Anna didn’t bother to feel annoyed. Nora had always been an early riser, much to her older sister’s dismay.

A distant memory of waking Elsa the same way when she was Nora’s age tried to surface, but Anna quickly shoved it back into the dark corner where she kept all the things that hurt too much to think about. It was a disturbingly large corner, but that was another thing she tried hard not to remember. 

“Anna!”

_Right. Nora. Morning. Coronation Day._ Anna sat up in her bed, making Nora scramble to copy her, and shook her head to clear out the last of the sleep induced cobwebs. Thought webs. Whatever. _My goodness I am tired._

Now that she was more awake, Anna could see that the unease that had been present in Nora for the past month was much more potent this morning. And no wonder, the thing the poor girl has been dreading for ages had arrived.

“Are you alright, Little Bird?” Anna asked. She drew Nora sideways across her lap and brushed a few strands of red hair out of her little sister’s face.

Nora immediately curled into her big sister’s embrace. Her head easily found the hollow of Anna’s shoulder, its favorite resting place since the girl had been a newborn. “Yeah. ‘M okay,” she mumbled. At Anna’s gently disbelieving hum, she pressed closer and continued. “I’m not scared, ‘xactly, just kinda, I dunno, nervous, I guess?”

“You’re anxious?” Anna clarified. Nora thought for a moment before nodding. They had learned that word in one of their storybooks last week. “There’s nothing to be anxious about, baby. You’re not the one being crowned queen,” she joked. Nora giggled. “We just have to show up and stand next to Elsa for a while. And we get to eat a bunch of treats. And chocolate,” she reminded Nora. That earned a more enthusiastic nod. One thing Anna had been sure to pass on to her baby was the proper appreciation for good chocolate.

Unfortunately, the good cheer didn’t last. Nora’s face fell into a somber expression not at all suited to the usually cheerful child. “But there’s gonna be lots of people there, right? Even more than have been around lately?”

Anna sighed, but nodded. “Yeah. There will be.” She understood Nora’s apprehension very well. The poor girl had been born after Mama and Papa had suddenly decided to close the gates for whatever reason they had always refused to explain. She had never known a time when there had been more than seven people in the castle, and that number had dropped to five with the death of their parents when Nora was only two. She didn’t remember them at all, rarely saw Kai and Gerda, and had never once set eyes on Elsa.

The sad fact was that Anna was the only person that Nora knew. The little girl had been shocked at the sudden influx of temporary staff when the preparations for the coronation had begun. A wave of maids invading the ballroom to clean had caused Nora to break out in panicked tears and cling to Anna’s side like a barnacle. Anna could still remember the bemused gazes of the women as she had lifted the sobbing child into her arms and rushed back to their bedroom.

One of them must have mentioned the incident to Gerda, because the older woman had showed up at their door less than an hour later to check on them. Her knock had woken Nora from her tear induced nap and set her crying again, much to the kindly servant’s dismay.

Anna had been carefully exposing Nora to the strangers in controlled doses over the month since the original incident, and the girl had vastly improved her tolerance for strangers as long as they didn’t try to talk to her. She still clung so tightly to Anna’s skirt that she practically became part of the fabric, but she hadn’t cried in weeks.

_I just hope we both manage to get through this whole thing without crying,_ Anna thought with vague amusement. She hated seeing her little sister so upset, and it was the first time since she had become Nora’s sole caretaker after their parents’ deaths that Anna was completely at a loss on how to help her baby sister. She couldn’t keep Nora away from the crowds. They were the princesses of Arendelle, it was their job to be seen supporting the new queen. The fact that the queen was basically a stranger to them both despite their shared blood didn’t matter. It was all about appearances.

“It will only be one day, and I’ll be right by your side, Nora. I won’t ever leave you alone.”

“Do you promise?” Nora held up her right hand with her pinkie extended. Anna linked her own with it and squeezed gently.

“I promise.” She kissed Nora’s forehead before releasing her hold on her finger. The little girl smiled and curled up against Anna’s side, her eyes bright and trusting.

Anna grabbed the book of fairytales she had been using for Nora’s bedtime stories off of her bedside table. Nora happily requested the same story she’d wanted for the last four nights and tucked herself underneath Anna’s arm for a better view of the pictures.

The two sisters settled in for a few quiet hours of familiar solitude before their little family would have to face the wider world for the first time in forever.

_All I want from today is to get through it without a meltdown. I know it all ends tomorrow; we’ve just got to get through today._

By the time Kai came to get them up, they had made their way through the entire book.

“We’ve been up for hours,” Anna replied to his summons, shooting an amused look at the completely unapologetic five-year-old. “But we’ll start getting ready now, Kai.”

“Very well, princess,” the man chuckled. “Just so you know, the gates should be open within the next hour.”

“Yes, thank you.” Anna heard his footsteps start down the hall and then fade off. Once she was certain he was out of ear shot, she sighed and closed her eyes. If it was just herself she had to worry about, she knew she would be positively ecstatic at the prospect of the gates being opened. Heaven knows she had spent more lonely years than she cared to think about wandering the empty halls and wondering what the purpose of a ballroom was if they never bothered to throw balls. _I’d probably be in the middle of an impromptu musical number right now, honestly._

But the thing is, it wasn’t just herself she had to worry about. In fact, her own wellbeing was so far down on her list it barely even registered most of the time. Not when she had an innocent child depending on her. And Anna’s first and only priority was getting Nora through what was bound to be an extremely scary and stressful experience. She had felt Nora stiffen at the news of the gates opening, and that was not okay. She glanced at her and saw that her head was bowed, eyes hidden from view by her sleep wild hair. She was clutching Anna’s blanket in her hands, twining the lace trimming between her fingers.

“It’s just for today, Little Bird,” she assured the child. When Nora’s head didn’t rise, Anna placed a gentle hand under her chin and coaxed it up. “Have I ever lied to you, Nora?” she asked.

“No.”

“Have I ever left you alone when you were scared?”

“No.”

“Then if I say that I promise not to leave you alone with strangers when you are scared, should you believe me?”

“Yes.” Anna was relieved to hear the growing confidence in Nora’s voice.

“Good. Now then, it’s time to get ready.” Anna threw the covers off her legs, purposely using enough force to make them drape across Nora’s head. She giggled and pushed them away. Anna picked up her brush and began taming her hair. It was easier now than it had been when she was younger. A few years of a small body joining her in her bed after bad dreams had taught her to keep still in her sleep, lest she mistakenly squish her sister. “Have you picked what dress you want to wear?”

That got a more enthusiastic response as the girl nodded. “The pretty yellow one I wore when we played Sun Princess and Moon Princess last week!”

“Good choice,” Anna agreed. She finished putting her hair into a braided bun far more elaborate than she would usually bother with. Nora awed at her big sister’s hair and then promptly demanded Anna do hers the same way. Anna, having known very well that was coming, laughed and agreed.

Anna sat Nora on her own bed and gave her one of the simpler storybooks to keep her entertained and at least somewhat still before settling behind her and starting to brush through Nora’s hair. It took a bit longer, Nora’s hair was still baby fine, and Anna had to be careful not to pull, but soon Nora was bouncing happily and admiring herself in the mirror.

“There you go,” Anna said as she came to stand behind her baby sister. “Just like mine.”

“Well, almost,” Nora sighed, reaching up to touch a spot on her temple. Anna smiled and touched the same spot on her own head, where the only thing that set her own red hair apart from Nora’s resided, a single white stripe.

“Well, we don’t have to be exactly the same, Nora. We’re different people.” Anna had given this speech many times and highly doubted Nora would accept it any more now. Nora was determined to be exactly like her big sister in everything from how she looked to what she ate (aside from carrots, of course. Nora hated those with a passion that deeply amused the older girl). It helped that the two sisters looked extremely similar, with the same blue eyes, red hair, and multitude of freckles.

Anna helped Nora into her chosen gown before getting dressed herself. Then she had to help Nora find a new dress when the little girl noticed that her big sister was wearing green and demanded to match. After the yellow dress was switched for a green one that was not a perfect match for Anna’s but was close enough to satisfy the girl, the two struck out to see what the day would bring.

Nora clutched Anna’s hand tightly as they watched the heavy gates open for the first time in Nora’s life. But she wasn’t crying, so Anna was taking that as a win. Anna tugged her closer with a whispered command, “Stay close, Nora. We are just going to walk around for a bit. Nobody knows what we look like yet, so we’ll just be part of the crowd until its time to go to the church.”

“Okay.” The voice was small, and Anna longed to scoop her up and take her back inside where they were safe and things were familiar, but she knew she couldn’t. They had to be at the church for Elsa’s crowning, and they had to be in the ballroom for the party afterwards. Hopefully Elsa wouldn’t make then stay too long, but who knew.

The first few minutes of their walk were uneventful. They got a few friendly greetings and well wishes, but for the most part were left alone. None of the townspeople had seen either of them since the King and Queen’s funeral, so it was possible that she was right, and they really didn’t remember the faces of the younger two princesses. _Well, fine with me,_ Anna thought. _As long as they don’t overwhelm Nora I don’t really care if they know who we are._

To Anna’s relief, Nora was quickly gaining confidence. She still would not relinquish her death grip on Anna’s hand, but she was starting to pull her older sister along rather than staying glued to her side. Nora stopped to admire a stand selling bouquets of colorful flowers, exclaiming joyfully at the soft fragrant petals. The merchant plucked a bright yellow bud from the arrangement Nora was most interested in.

“Here you are, dear. No better place for a pretty flower than in a beautiful girl’s hair,” he said with a bright smile.

Nora promptly darted behind Anna, utterly at a loss for how to react at being addressed by a stranger. Honestly, Anna wasn’t sure either. It had been— _how long even? Ten years, twenty- wait, no, I haven’t even been alive for twenty years. So that can’t be it. Whatever—_ a long time since she had spoken to somebody she hadn’t known since birth. Well, Nora’s birth, in the case of her little sister. _Wait, what was I doing? Oh right, merchant, should probably say something soon, I’m probably starting to look kind of crazy just staring at him._ “Thank you, sir,” Anna said. She saw him blink in surprise and realized her voice had come out so loud that she was practically shouting. _Oops._ “Thank you,” she said again. This time her voice was calmer, and the merchant smiled as Anna accepted the flower.

It wasn’t a kind she recognized either from Mama’s garden or from the books on plants she’d read in the library. It was pretty though, a star like array of petals with a part that looked like a bell coming up from the center. Anna carefully crouched down, knowing just how badly Gerda would scold her if she showed up to the coronation with dirt on her skirt, and gently weaved the stem of the flower into Nora’s hair. The end result was quite pretty, if Anna did say so herself. She also knew that yellow was Nora’s favorite color, despite her insistence that _of course it was green, just like yours, what are you talking about, Anna?_

Anna straightened up and nudged Nora gently. “What do you say to the nice man, Nora?”

Nora stared at her for a moment before taking a deep breath and answering in an impressively confident voice, “Thank you for the pretty flower, mister.”

“You are very welcome, young miss.”

As they walked on, both Anna and Nora were thrilled at their first successful interaction with a stranger. The man had been kind and friendly and had been very patient with the two sisters’ awkwardness as they tried to work out what they were supposed to say. Maybe today wouldn’t be as stressful as they thought.

_The gods hate me,_ Anna thought less than a minute later as a truly gigantic horse reared above them. “Whoa, hey!” the rider yelled as he tried to get his mount back under control. Anna quickly scooped Nora into her arms a second before she would have been knocked off the pier. She reeled back and they nearly fell anyway, but a gloved hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.

Anna glanced up and saw that their rescuer was the rider. He had apparently jumped off of his horse and managed to grab hold of the flailing princess a second before she and her sister would have taken an unintended bath. “Are you both okay?” he asked. He was a handsome man, well dressed with red hair and carefully groomed muttonchops.

“Yeah, I think so,” Anna said, breathless with terror from the near miss. Neither she nor Nora could swim. That could have ended really badly. “Are you okay, baby?” she asked her sister. Nora refused to remove her face from her hiding place in Anna’s neck, but nodded.

“Thank you for your help, sir,” Anna said. Truthfully, the man should not have been on his horse so close to the water’s edge, but it was a minor rule that Papa had complained about not being followed many times. If he was one of the visiting dignitaries— _pretty likely considering his clothes and the foreign looking horse—_ it was likely he had seen natives riding and had assumed it was allowed. Not his fault.

“I’m just glad you are both alright. I didn’t mean to run into you. For that I am very sorry.”

“It’s alright. You’re not supposed to be horseback on this path for just this reason, but hardly anyone actually follows that rule. The guards complain about it a lot.”

“I was unaware of that law,” the man said, his brows drawing into a frown, “but I can certainly see the reason for it. I will make certain that the rest of my party abides by it. Oh, forgive me,” he said suddenly, startling Anna. She tilted her head in confusion. _He already apologized. What is he sorry for now?_ “I forgot to introduce myself. I am Prince Hans of the Southern Isles.”

_Oh, a prince. Didn’t expect that._ “I am Princess Anna of Arendelle. And this is my sister, Princess Nora.”

“Princess?” Hans quickly dropped into a bow, and amusingly, so did his horse. “Your majesty…”

_Majesty, what… Oh._ “No, no, no. I’m not the queen, or soon-to-be-queen,” _thank goodness for that, raising Nora is enough responsibility, thankyouverymuch._ “That’s our older sister, Elsa. She’s the majestic-y— wait is that a word, I don’t think that’s a word—anyway, she’s the important one. We are just us. Lucky for you, I guess. Elsa and her guards might not have been too happy if you had almost knocked her into the water.”

“I suppose I am lucky I met you,” Hans agreed. The way he said it was weird though, like he meant more than what he was saying. _Wait, is he flirting? Is that flirting?_

Anna’s thoughts were derailed when Nora looked up from her neck and pointed at the big clocktower. “Anna.” Anna looked at it and saw that they had less than fifteen minutes until the coronation started.

“Oh, you’re right, thanks Nora. It was nice to meet you, Prince Hans. Thanks again for not letting us fall into the ocean.” Anna gave a quick curtsy before taking off in what she hoped was the direction of the church, Nora still balanced on her hip.

_Hopefully that will be the only bit of drama for today._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elsa meets her youngest sister. It doesn't exactly go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the change in tags, I tried fixing a typo in the original ones, and it would not cooperate with me, so I ended up having to cut some. I'll try to fix that later. Also, don't expect updates this often in the future. I'm out on Spring Break right now, so I actually have time to dedicate to recreational writing instead of papers. That will not last long.

_In, out. In, out. Like a wave lapping on the shore._

Elsa breathed as her mother had taught her so long ago. Back when her biggest fear was a monster in her closet that turned out to be nothing more than her rocking horse with a blanket draped over its head.

_In, out. In, out. Let the negative emotions exit your body with each breath._

It was supposed to ward off fear and anxiety. It had never really worked, not since she was small, but she didn’t know what else to do.

_In, out. In, out. Don’t let them in. Don’t let them see._

It was the day she had been dreading for so long, that had filled her with terror ever since the shock of her parents’ deaths had worn off and reality had set in. Her coronation day.

_In, out. In, out. Be the good girl you always have to be._

Each breath carried the scent of orchids from the fabric of her gown. Gerda must have pressed some into the dress in the hopes that the scent of Elsa’s favorite flowers would offer some sort of comfort. The small kindness warmed Elsa’s heart, and for a moment the swirling storm within her soul seemed to lessen.

_In, out. In, out. Conceal, don’t feel._

The warmth faded too quickly, over swept by the icy fear that was so familiar it may as well have taken root in her bones.

_The day is here. Time to put on a show. Please don’t let it be a tragedy._

“Your Majesty.” Kai’s voice was apologetic but insistent. “Are you ready?”

_No, I’m not,_ Elsa thought desperately. _I never will be. Please, I can’t do this. I want to go back to my room._

But she could not give that answer. The King and Queen were dead, she was the firstborn princess, and she was now twenty-one. She had no choice.

“I’m ready.” _I have to be._

Kai nodded; his was face professionally blank but his eyes were warm. He opened the door to the church slightly and spoke. A moment later, the doors were flung open and a strong voice rang out.

“All rise for Crown Princess Elsa of Arendelle!”

Elsa kept her eyes forward and her back straight as she walked down the isle toward the waiting priest. _I wonder is this is what brides see at their weddings,_ Elsa thought before biting back a hysterical laugh. She was taking on an entire kingdom, not a husband. This was so much worse.

Elsa’s mind went blank for a moment as she caught sight of Anna. The younger girl was standing off to the side, her gaze directed downward. Elsa had only seen glimpses of Anna over the past thirteen years, and even those had dwindled off after their parents had died and Anna had stopped knocking on her door. Her baby sister was all grown up, standing tall and regal in her green dress. Not a baby anymore. She was a grown woman now; her eighteenth birthday having passed less than a month earlier.

Elsa quickly looked away when Anna glanced up and nearly caught her gaze. Instead, her eyes landed on a much smaller figure clinging to Anna’s skirt. She was small, her head barely coming up to Anna’s hip. Her red hair was done up the same way as Anna’s, the only difference being the bright yellow daffodil braided into the bun. Her dress was a children’s style but the same shade of green as Anna’s gown.

Nora.

Elsa had been aware of the birth of her youngest sister, of course. She was sixteen at the time and had been both happy about gaining another sibling and terrified at the thought of accidentally hurting the baby like she had hurt Anna. Upon learning of the pregnancy, she had begged her mother to stay away from her for the duration of it. She knew that had hurt her mother, but Father had agreed with her reasoning.

Elsa had never once set eyes on her youngest sister. She couldn’t, it was too dangerous. She had heard her voice a few times when Anna had brought her to her door and had received a few scribbled drawings presumably made by her shoved under her door along with Anna’s annual Christmas gift.

But this was the first time she had seen the now five-year-old in person. Elsa’s eyes started to water at the thought, and she quickly blocked out the familiar pain. Anna curtsied as Elsa walked past. Elsa fought down a sense of revulsion at the sight. She knew it was tradition, but she hated it. Anna should never bow to her. Nora didn’t move, choosing to stay hidden from the multitude of visitors in Anna’s shadow. Thankfully, she was young enough that not even the most conservative council members would be bothered by the lack of decorum.

Elsa would never be sure how she made it through the ceremony. She barely kept her hands from shaking after the priest had made her remove her gloves. She could feel the frost building on the sacred items as she held them out, just like it had every time she had practiced with the stand in items that Gerda had procured for her. By some miracle, it still had not become visible to anyone other than herself when the crowd pronounced her queen and she had practically thrown the ball and scepter back and pulled her gloves back on.

The priest was certainly confused, but not hostile. Which meant that she had made it past her biggest challenge, and her secret was still safe.

_Maybe I can get through this after all,_ she thought with uncharacteristic optimism.

Elsa’s heart felt a bit lighter as she stood at the front of the ballroom. While she was still technically the center of attention, the majority of people were more interested in mingling amongst themselves and enjoying the food than staring at her.

“Wait, are you sure we’re supposed to—”

The voice made Elsa’s heart skip a beat. Anna was pulled in by Kai, protesting nervously. Nora was clutching Anna’s hand, her blue eyes taking in her surroundings with obvious trepidation.

“Well, okay then,” Anna sighed as Kai firmly deposited the younger sisters at Elsa’s side.

“Introducing, Princess Anna of Arendelle. Introducing, Princess Nora of Arendelle.”

Nora quickly released her hold on Anna’s hand and clung to her leg instead. She moved so that Anna was between her and the roomful of people and hid her face in her older sister’s skirt.

_Poor thing,_ Elsa though sympathetically. _She’s probably never seen this many people before in her life._

Guilt churned in Elsa’s stomach. Nora had been born long after the gates had been closed. The little girl had never known another life.

_Maybe I can talk to them, get to know them a little. Just give myself a few more pleasant memories to hold onto. I can’t mess that up too badly, can I?_

Elsa took a breath before turning to her sisters. Anna was murmuring to Nora too softly for Elsa to make out the words. Her hand was on the smaller girl’s head, stroking her hair with a gentle motion that reminded Elsa palpably of their late mother.

_Come on, Elsa. Just say something. You can do this._

“Hi.” Not the most sophisticated conversation starter, but it was something.

Anna jumped, visibly startled by the address. “Hi, uh, you mean— uh, hi me?” She looked over her shoulder as if expecting someone to be there. As if she couldn’t believe Elsa was talking to her of all people. Elsa felt a pang in her heart.

“Yes.” _Just keep it simple._

“Oh,” Anna still looked confused, but a small smile tugged at her mouth. “Hi.”

“You look beautiful.” She really did, her red hair was twisted into an elegant style, and her forest green dress complimented her skin tone nicely.

“Oh, thank you.” She kept her eyes mostly on Nora as she spoke, glancing carefully up at Elsa a few times before looking back down at the safer sister. “You look beautifuller. I mean, you don’t look fuller, but you look more beautiful.” Elsa couldn’t help a small smile, glad that some aspects of her sister hadn’t changed as she’d grown up.

They stood in awkward silence for a few moments, neither entirely certain how to talk to the other. Once again, Anna proved to be the braver one. “It’s a nice day, isn’t it? Nora and I had a nice walk before we came.”

Elsa nodded. “I’m glad.”

“It’s warmer than I thought.” Anna finally turned her attention away from Nora enough to look Elsa in the eye.

“And what’s that amazing smell?” Elsa asked, noting it for the first time.

She and Anna both took in deep breaths before exhaling them with a happy sigh. “Chocolate,” they chorused. The moment was so foreign and yet so familiar they neither of them could help letting out a breathless chuckle.

Unfortunately, their happy moment was brought to an end by Kai’s voice. To his credit, he looked apologetic as he led a very short old man up to the newly crowned queen. “Your Majesty, presenting the Duke of Weasel Town.”

“Weselton,” the man corrected irritably. Out of the corner of her eye, Elsa saw Anna move slightly to block Nora completely from the man’s view. “It’s Weselton, and I think it’s only right that, as Arendelle’s closest partner in trade, I offer the new queen her first dance.”

The man punctuated his request by bursting into what had to be the most bizarre dance moves Elsa had ever seen. He completed his little jig with a bow, causing his toupee to peel off of his head and hang over his face. Elsa shared an amused look with Anna, the red head very obviously fighting the urge to laugh.

_That is not happening, Duke._ “I’m sorry, I don’t dance,” Elsa said, trying to inject her voice with the appropriate amount of regret.

The small man began to gather himself up, obviously ready to take offense to the perceived slight.

_Sorry, Anna._

“But my sister does,” Elsa said quickly to forestall the tirade the man was preparing for.

“Wait, what!” Anna yelped.

“Lucky for you.” The Duke happily took the alternative. He grabbed hold of Anna’s arm and nearly yanked her off of her feet as he pulled her onto the dance floor. Anna looked at her desperately as the man’s voice echoed back. “If you swoon, let me know. I’ll catch you.”

_Sorry,_ Elsa mouthed a second before Anna was pulled out of sight, her hand reaching out for help that was not coming.

A frightened whimper caught Elsa’s attention. She turned to see Nora standing beside her. The little girl was staring desperately in the direction that Anna had been dragged off in, arms extended helplessly as if she could snatch her big sister back. She looked as if her entire world had just been ripped away from her, and Elsa felt panic begin to build in her chest as Nora’s face crumpled and tears started to run down her cheeks.

“D-don’t cry,” Elsa stammered. She saw a light coating of frost build at her feet, thankfully not extending far past the soles of her shoes. “She’ll be back soon, I promise.”

Nora looked up at her, and the fear in those blue eyes hit Elsa like a physical blow. She remembered Mama telling her how similar Nora had looked to Anna as a baby, but she had not realized just how pronounced that resemblance really was. Age aside, the two looked almost identical. Looking at Nora now was like looking at Anna right after their separation. Scared and confused, with no idea why their favorite person was suddenly gone.

Elsa, remembering how Anna had kept Nora out of the direct sight of the crowd, reached out carefully toward the little girl. “Come over here, Nora. You can hide behind me until Anna gets back.”

Nora looked uncertain, but after a glance at the multitude of strangers in the large room, seemed to dub Elsa the lesser of the two evils. She allowed Elsa to herd her into the more sheltered area between herself and the wall. Thankfully, the girl did not seem interested in touching anyone other than Anna and allowed herself to be guided without reaching to take Elsa’s hand.

“Are you alright?” Elsa asked uncertainly after the girl had settled into a spot out of direct sight of the rest of the room.

“Anna promised she wouldn’t leave me alone,” Nora responded with a sad little sniffle. “But that man dragged her away from me anyways. I want her back, she promised, and she never breaks promises.” Nora wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, looking pathetically up at Elsa. “She promised,” she said again.

“I’m sorry,” Elsa said sadly. She really messed up with that one. She couldn’t dance with the Duke herself, so she had volunteered Anna in her place, against her sister’s will, in order to avoid the haughty man making a scene. She should have thought first. She could see how scared Nora was, how tightly she was clinging to Anna. She should have just let the man bluster. It’s not like he would have cut off trade for such a minor insult. But she had acted without thinking, and now her baby sister was terrified and didn’t have the only thing that made her feel safe.

To Elsa’s relief, being out of sight seemed to calm Nora down slightly. She still looked scared, but her tears had stopped falling and she seemed to be getting some kind of control over her emotions. Elsa was startled when she realized that Nora was using the same breathing technique that she had been using before the coronation. _Anna must have taught it to her._

Elsa watched for a few moments and sighed in relief as Nora’s breathing normalized. “Are you feeling better?”

Nora looked up and studied Elsa carefully for a moment before nodding. Elsa smiled in relief. Before she could collect her thoughts enough to decide what to say, Nora spoke up unexpectedly. “Are you really our sister?” she asked.

Elsa looked at her, nonplussed. What kind of question was that? “Yes, I am your sister.”

“Oh,” Nora replied. “I thought you were a story Anna made up.”

Elsa was stunned. “What do you mean?”

Nora shrugged. “Anna’s really good at making up stories and games. Like Sun Princess and Moon Princess. We play them all the time. So, when she told me ‘bout Big Sister Elsa and asked me to draw pictures to give her or leave a few cookies for her when we make them, I just thought it was another game, ‘cause we never saw you for real. We just pushed things under a door.”

Elsa was at a loss. Her sister had actually thought she didn’t exist?

Nora continued, oblivious to Elsa’s turmoil. “But then people started coming, and Anna said they were getting things ready for a big party where Big Sister Elsa would become queen, and I figured you couldn’t become queen of the whole country if you weren’t real.”

“I-I’m definitely real,” Elsa said, utterly at a loss for how to react to that revelation. It was slightly comforting to know that Anna had told Nora about her, and the drawings Nora had made for her were in a box right next to the one where she kept the things Anna had made for her over the years. But to know her own sister had considered her nothing more than a story…

Anna stumbling back broke Elsa out of her thoughts. Nora quickly darted away from Elsa’s side and latched onto Anna’s leg and pressed her face against the older girl’s hip. “Let me know when you’re ready for another round!” the Duke called.

_That certainly isn’t happening. I don’t think I could handle more time alone with Nora, and she definitely didn’t seem excited to spend time with me._

Elsa’s disquiet turned to mild concern as she saw that Anna was favoring her right leg slightly. “Are you okay?”

Once again, Anna seemed surprised at being addressed. “Yeah, I’m alright. Those heels he’s wearing hurt a bit, that’s all. I think he landed on my feet more often than his own.”

“You’re hurt?” Nora spoke up. She lifted her arms up toward Anna, who immediately picked her up, completely ignoring the lack of propriety in the action and the dirt that the little girl’s shoes were undoubtedly leaving on her nice dress. Nora leaned in and pressed a kiss to Anna’s cheek. “Better?” she asked.

Anna smiled and returned a kiss to Nora’s forehead. “Much better, yes.”

Nora nodded solemnly. “I love you.”

“And I love you too.”

Elsa had to look away, her heart aching at the exchange. _That’s what being sisters should be like. What it was like back before it happened. Before we realized that I was too dangerous to be around normal people. To be around Anna._

“Elsa?” Anna’s voice broke into Elsa’s moment of self-loathing. “Are you alright?”

“Fine.” Her voice was curt, and Anna visibly recoiled, tucking Nora closer to her chest. “I just need to focus on my duties now.”

Anna nodded slowly, her eyes losing the ease they had gained during their successful conversation. “Alright. How much longer do Nora and I need to stay? I’d like to get her into bed before it gets too late. She gets really grumpy when she’s tired.”

Elsa nodded slowly. “Understandable. When is her usual bedtime?” It hurt that she didn’t know, but it was a pain so familiar she could mostly block it out.

“Eight thirty.”

“You may both be excused at seven thirty then. Nora is young, I doubt anyone will question it.”

Anna simply nodded, accepting that. “I’ll leave you to your queenly duties, then.” She looked down at Nora, and her voice gained a gentle cooing tone that Elsa had never heard before. “Come on, Little Bird. Let’s go find something to eat. Since it’s a party, I won’t even make you have any vegetables.”

Nora’s excited gasp faded off as Anna carried her into the crowd, leaving Elsa alone once more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna acquires a stalker, Nora throws an apple, and Elsa has a breakdown.

“So, what do you want?” Anna asked, keeping Nora in her arms so that she could see the top of the table and the food that it held. Nora started pointing at different things, and Anna obligingly began filling a plate. After the third desert, Anna laughed and shook her head. “I said you didn’t have to have a vegetable, but you do have to eat something other than chocolate.”

Nora pouted but obediently pointed to a platter of shiny red apples and a meat and potato casserole. Anna added a piece of the fruit and a scoop of the entree to the plate before setting Nora onto her feet and handing it to her so Anna could begin choosing her own food. “Keep hold of my skirt to make sure you don’t get swept away,” Anna reminded her. It probably wasn’t necessary, _pretty sure it would take a full team of fjord horses to pull Nora away from me with this many people around,_ but better safe than spending an hour panicking and desperately searching for her lost child.

When Nora nodded her agreement, Anna turned and started looking over the options herself. Before she could settle on an entree, a hand landed unexpectedly in her shoulder. Anna jumped at the sudden contact, dropping her plate on the ground with a loud clatter that briefly caught the attention of a few nobles standing nearby before they turned back to their conversations.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” a vaguely familiar voice chuckled in Anna’s ear. “I didn’t mean to startle you, Princess Anna.”

Anna flinched back from the unexpected closeness, instinctively nudging Nora behind her and away from the intruder that had the royal younger sisters pinned between himself and the table. Said intruder turned out to be Prince Hans, in all his Southern Isles-y glory. _Wait, what? That didn’t make any sense. Even to me. Why is he standing so close?_

“It’s alright,” Anna said more out of politeness than forgiveness. “It is nice to see you again, Prince Hans.” _Well, it would be if you would take a step back. You’re probably making Nora nervous._

“You both as well,” Prince Hans said warmly. He didn’t react as Anna scooted past him and finally managed to reclaim an appropriate personal space bubble for herself and her sister.

_He probably doesn’t realize he’s making us uncomfortable,_ Anna thought, trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the man who had saved her and Nora from a potentially dangerous swim in the ocean earlier. _Maybe it’s just how people interact in the Southern Isles._

“How are you liking the accommodations?” she asked, hoping the polite conversation starter was acceptable. She liked him well enough, but she really just wanted to get some food and then find a secluded place where she and Nora could eat in peace.

“They are more than satisfactory. I am very excited for this opportunity to see your lovely kingdom.” His smile was a little too wide to be just out of curtesy. It seemed Anna’s earlier suspicions that he was flirting with her were correct. _Yeesh, I was not prepared for this. At all. Please don’t let this conversation get too awkward._

“Yes, Arendelle has many wonders to enjoy.” _Not that I’ve ever seen any of them._ “I’m sure the Southern Isles has many wonderful qualities, too.” _Talk about his kingdom. That’s a safe hostess-y topic, right?_

“It does, of course. But it’s rather warm this time of year. I have greatly enjoyed the cool sea breeze here.”

Anna nodded slowly. She carefully edged her way back to the table, keeping one hand on Nora’s head as the girl followed her closely, and picked up a new plate, hoping he would take the hint without considering her rude.

Unfortunately, the prince seemed oblivious to her noninterest, as he stayed uncomfortably close to Anna, one hand resting unwelcomely on her arm. _I am showing noninterest, right? Not interest? For goodness sake, I have not interacted with a man I have not known since infancy in over a decade. I have no idea what I’m doing!_

“So, Princess, would you like to go outside with me and enjoy a bit of that ocean breeze?”

Anna wasn’t sure if her face could get any redder. Beside her, Nora had set her plate on the ground and was hiding behind Anna’s skirt. “I-I’m sorry, Prince Hans, but I can’t. I need to look after my younger sister, I’m afraid. She’s too young to wander this crowd alone. If you will excuse me…”

Giving up on her food, Anna set the plate down. _I can always get us something from the kitchens instead. The cooks might be annoyed, but it’s not like they could refuse us._ But when Anna turned to pick up Nora, Hans reached out and grabbed her arm.

Anna whirled around, shocked that the foreign royal had the audacity to manhandle the hosting princess. _Where are the guards when you need them?_ Anna craned her neck in an attempt to see if Elsa was in earshot. _She may not be a great big sister, but I bet she will still defend us if necessary. Right?_

“Doesn’t Princess Nora have a Nanny who can take her for the night?” Hans asked, apparently oblivious to Anna’s quickly deteriorating patience. “Surely caring for her can’t be your job?”

“It is, and it is the greatest job I could ask for,” Anna retorted. “And I must ask you to please release your hold on my arm, Prince Hans. I am not interested in leaving the ballroom with you.”

“Come now, Princess. I would love the chance to get to know you better. You are so lovely that I just can’t stand to miss a chance to earn your favor.”

_You’re crazy if you think grabbing me and trying to bully me into spending time with you is earning my favor. You are very close to earning my fist in your face, visiting prince or not._

“Please release me, Prince Hans,” Anna said again. She didn’t even try to keep her voice down, and she could see people beginning to take note of her situation.

Hans tightened his grip enough to hurt, and Anna couldn’t quite stifle her wince. His hold loosened immediately, but he still didn’t let go. Before Anna could raise her fist for a hard blow— _consequences be damned, what could Elsa even do to me? I’m already locked up in the castle, and all I do every day is take care of Nora. Not like she can ban me from that—_

“Let go of my sister, you slug!”

An apple suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit Hans right in the eye. The impact was enough that the prince finally released his hold on Anna’s arm as his hand shot up to cover his injured face. Anna looked down at Nora in shock. The little girl was standing beside her with her arms crossed and a very self-satisfied look on her face.

_I did not expect that._

“What is going on here?”

_Well sure, now Elsa shows up. Where were you when Prince Handsy was holding me captive?_

“Nothing, your Majesty,” Hans interjected before Anna could say anything. She glared at him with as much indignation as she could manage. _You have a weird definition of nothing Handsy!_

“It was merely a simple misunderstanding,” the prince continued with a too-innocent expression that was ruined by the already forming black eye. _Nice shot Nora. I’m impressed._ “I apologize that it disturbed you.”

Elsa’s conversation with the French ambassador was interrupted by an unexpected voice.

“Let go of my sister, you slug!” Elsa hadn’t even been aware that Nora could sound that angry, and it definitely got her attention. She scanned the crowd until her eyes landed on the source of the disturbance.

Anna was standing next to one of the buffet tables, a startled expression on her face as she stared down at Nora. Nora herself had a very smug expression on her tiny face as she glared at a red-haired man who had a hand clamped over his eye with more venom than Elsa had thought the seemingly shy little girl was capable of.

Whatever was going on, it clearly included both of Elsa’s sisters, which meant she needed to intervene. She politely excused herself from the Frenchman, who nodded in understanding, before making her way carefully through the crowd.

“What is going on here?” she asked as she came to a stop beside Anna. The middle sister opened her mouth to reply when the man broke in. He quickly lowered his hand, revealing a watery eye and a forming bruise.

“Nothing, your Majesty,” he insisted. “It was merely a simple misunderstanding. I apologize that it disturbed you.” Judging by Anna and Nora’s glares, Elsa highly doubted that was the truth. Add in the fact that Nora had yelled for someone to let go of Anna, and Elsa was about ready to call the guards to escort the smarmy man out of her castle. 

“But while I have an audience with you, I would like to take the opportunity to express my interest in a possible alliance between Arendelle and the Southern Isles.”

_Please don’t let this be what it sounds like._

“I would like your blessing to propose marriage to Princess Anna.”

Elsa blinked in mild surprise. _Not quite what I suspected. Right request, wrong sister._ Anna’s enraged gasp broke Elsa out of her thoughts, and Elsa’s surprise was quickly overtaken by protective anger.

“I need a moment to discuss with my sister,” Elsa said, barely managing to cling to her veneer of calm, “in private.” Anna looked furious, but thankfully seemed willing to wait until they were away from prying eyes before speaking up. She nodded curtly to Elsa and took hold of Nora’s hand, and Elsa led both of her younger sisters out of the room.

Anna was visibly shaking when Elsa ushered her and Nora into the royal study and closed the door. Elsa no longer knew her sister well enough to tell if it was from fear or anger and felt a twinge of pain in her chest at the realization. “Are you alright, Anna?” she asked, keeping her voice as gentle as she could.

Anna visibly calmed at her words, and Elsa watched as yet another sister utilized their mother’s breathing technique. “My arm is sore, but I’m mostly just really ticked off at that guy’s nerve.”

Elsa’s heart jolted in alarm. “What happened to your arm?” she demanded. _Who would dare hurt my sister in our own home?_

“Ask Prince Handsy,” Anna muttered with obvious irritation. Nora, apparently deciding this was a grown-up matter, wandered over to the window seat and climbed in to wait out the excitement.

“You mean that man that just asked to marry you?”

“Yeah.” Anna suddenly looked alarmed. “You aren’t going to say yes are you?”

“Of course not,” Elsa replied quickly. “You can’t marry a man you just met.”

“Thank goodness.” Anna seemed genuinely relieved, and Elsa was a little hurt at the realization that Anna had thought she might sell her into marriage like that.

“So, what did he do? Why is your arm hurt?” Elsa buried the pain in a familiar coping mechanism, focusing on her duty to protect her little sister.

Anna’s face was as serious as Elsa had ever seen it. “I was getting food for Nora and myself when Prince Hans came up to us. Snuck up behind us is more like it.” _So, Hans is his real name,_ Elsa thought, amused by her sister’s moniker for the troublesome prince. “He kept standing too close and speaking right into my ear, no matter how many times I moved away he just kept coming closer. I tried making small talk in the hopes that he’d lose interest and go away, but then he asked me to leave the ball and go outside with him.”

“Alone?” Elsa asked, alarmed at the implications.

“Yes,” Anna replied, and Elsa fought back a wave of frost. “I told him I couldn’t, that I needed to stay with Nora. And frankly, he was making me really uncomfortable by that point. I didn’t say that last part out loud, though,” Anna added as an afterthought.

_I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did._ Elsa was disturbed at the possible intentions of a grown man trying to get her much smaller barely eighteen-year-old sister to go off alone with him. _Wait no, don’t think about that,_ Elsa thought quickly, crossing her arms in an instinctive self-comforting gesture. _You don’t know if that was his intention, and if it was, Anna didn’t fall for it. If you think too hard on this, you’re going to freeze the room._

“He said that Nora must have a Nanny or something to look after her. And when I said no again and tried to walk away, he grabbed my arm.”

“He grabbed you?” Elsa repeated, frost beginning spread around her feet as her anger built.

Anna must have taken her anger for incredulity, because she scowled and stretched out her arm for Elsa to see. “I asked him to let go, but he just kept tightening his grip when I tried to pull away. See, you can see the bruises.”

Elsa studied Anna’s arm, careful not to touch her. Sure enough, there was a series of red marks which would surely darken into purple-black bruises over the next few hours. Five marks, perfectly forming the shape of a man’s fingers.

Elsa saw red. A phantom wind roared in her ears.

_Some brute of a man hurt my sister. Right under my nose. And then he had the nerve to ask for her hand?! Like she’s some commodity to buy and sell?!_

“Nora was the real hero of this story,” Anna continued. The note of humor entering her voice was enough to snap Elsa at least somewhat out of her ire. “When Prince Handsy wouldn’t let go of me, she threw an apple at him.”

“An apple?” Elsa looked at her youngest sister, who was staring calmly out the window, apparently oblivious to the conversation going on behind her. Despite herself, she felt a laugh bubble up in her chest.

“Yep!” Elsa was relieved to see Anna return so quickly to her normal cheery self. “Got him right in the eye too. Looked like it’s gonna be a real shiner.”

Elsa couldn’t help it, the laugh escaped. Anna grinned brightly at the sound, which sent a rush of warmth through Elsa’s heart at the proof of her precious sister’s continuing affection for her. “Quite an arm for such a tiny thing.”

“I know, right! I had no idea she had that kind of strength.”

Elsa gazed softly at her younger sister. _She’s not the only one, Anna._

Anna felt a sense of relief as she, Elsa, and Nora returned to the ballroom. It was probably unfair, but she really had been a bit scared that Elsa would agree to marrying her off to Prince Handsy and being rid of her. But Elsa’s reaction to Anna’s story had proved to the redhead that, if nothing else, Elsa truly did still care for her. _You can’t fake that kind of anger. She cares. Maybe not as much as I would wish, but it’s something, right?_

Nora’s hand in hers was a familiar comfort. Anna wasn’t joking when she’d called her little sister the hero of the story. Anna wasn’t sure Elsa would have been so willing to hear her side of things if she had indeed decked the creepy little worm like she’d been planning to.

“Queen Elsa,” Handsy was actually waiting for them right where they left him. _Geeze, doesn’t this guy have anything better to do? It’s a party, go eat some cake or something._ Nearly every eye in the ballroom was trained on the unfolding drama, making Nora cling tightly to Anna.

“Prince Hans, after discussing tonight’s incident with Princess Anna, I’m afraid I must deny your request. I must also ask that you stay away from my sisters for the remainder of your stay in my kingdom, as one more complaint from either of them about your conduct will result in you being escorted to your ship by my guards. Do we have an understanding?” Elsa’s entire demeanor was as cold as ice, and Anna had to hold back a shiver.

_I’m just glad that ice queen routine isn’t being used against me for once._

Handsy looked shocked by the dressing down. “I don’t understand, Queen Elsa. What have I done to offend you?”

Elsa’s cold stare sharpened into a full-on glare. “You tried to coerce my sister into leaving with you, and when she attempted to spare your reputation by simply walking away rather than calling for the guards, you grabbed her arm roughly enough to leave bruises. I do not know what your intentions were after you had gotten Anna alone, and for your sake I am not going to speculate. But know that I take my family’s safety very seriously, Prince Hans, and you have now caused my younger sisters to feel unsafe within their own home. That is unacceptable.”

Prince Hans once again proved himself unable to bow to common sense. “I don’t know what Princess Anna told you, but I did not mean any harm to her or Princess Nora. I apologize for the misunderstanding and ask to work this out privately with the Princess.”

_Is he serious?_ Anna thought incredulously. _Elsa just said he wasn’t allowed near us, and now he’s asking to spend time alone with me?_

“You will not be allowed near either of my sisters, Prince Hans,” Elsa repeated with what Anna considered to be admirable patience.

“If I could just speak with Princess Anna, I’m certain we could work out our issue and come to a mutually beneficial conclusion.” Prince Handsy continued to show a remarkable lack of sense.

“Do not make me repeat myself again, Prince Hans.” Anna could see Elsa’s calm mask beginning to slip, replaced by frustration and what looked like protectiveness.

_Aww, she does care._

“What do you say to this, Princess Anna?” Handsy asked, apparently deciding to change tactics. “I thought we had a connection when we met at the docks.”

_Seriously?!_ Anna was getting very frustrated by this point. She could feel Nora shaking against her side, the poor girl not used to conflict like this. Anna stepped forward, careful to keep herself between the Prince and Nora.

It left Elsa as the closest person to their littlest sister, but the current situation had convinced Anna that the oldest sister could be trusted to protect Nora, at least in the short term.

“We met for less than a minute after you almost knocked Nora and me into the ocean. Yes, I acknowledge that it was an accident, and that you grabbed me before I could fall in, but one interaction does not mean I want to marry you!” Anna insisted. She could never marry a foreigner anyway, especially not a foreign prince. She knew very well that she would be expected to move to her husband’s homeland if she did, and that would mean leaving Nora behind. And she absolutely refused to do that.

A familiar whimper immediately drew Anna’s attention, a soul deep instinct to protect her child banishing all other thoughts from her mind. She turned to see Nora, her eyes wide with fear, reach out in a child’s impulse to seek protection from someone bigger and stronger than themselves. But Anna was too far away to reach, and so the searching little hand grasped onto Elsa’s gloved one.

Elsa’s reaction was sudden and shocking. With a violence that Anna had never seen in her before, Elsa yanked her hand away from the child. The force was enough to send Nora tumbling to the ground, a startled expression on her face and Elsa’s blue glove clenched in her fist.

For a moment, there was silence. Anna felt blank, uncomprehending of how the woman she had placed her trust in, _had trusted with Nora, her dearest and most precious child,_ had just shoved the helpless little girl to the ground for the crime of reaching out in a request for comfort.

Nora’s face crumpled, and she burst into tears.

The sound jerked Anna out of her stupor, and she ran to Nora. She scooped the girl up into her arms and cradled her close. “Shhh, Little Bird, it’s okay. Are you hurt, baby?”

Nora managed to shake her head, but her tears didn’t slow. Completely overwhelmed by the events of the day, the girl just pressed her face into Anna’s shoulder and wailed her distress to the world.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Is she alright?” Elsa sounded horrified by what she had done, but Anna was too angry to care. She whirled on the new queen, glaring heatedly.

“What the heck, Elsa?! I know you prefer to keep everyone shut out, but that doesn’t give you the right to shove my sister when all she did was reach out to you!” Anna was oblivious to the prying eyes around her, oblivious to the pushy prince still standing only feet away. Her little sister had been hurt, and there would be blood.

Elsa shank back at Anna’s words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to knock her down. Just give me my glove back.”

Anna pressed Nora closer to her chest. She didn’t know where the glove had ended up, and she didn’t care. “Is that all you care about? Your stupid glove? That thing means more to you than us?!”

Nora let out a sob, and Anna quickly quieted her voice, murmuring a soft apology and pressing a kiss to her head. When she looked up, Elsa was starting to look desperate. “Please, I just need my glove. You and Nora can retire for the night if you wish, just give me back my glove.”

“I don’t know where it is,” Anna replied, her voice softer but no less irate, “nor do I really care. I don’t know what I did to you all those years ago when you decided I wasn’t worth your attention anymore, but don’t you dare take it out on Nora. She’s innocent in this.”

Elsa looked around, apparently more occupied with finding the stupid glove than hearing Anna’s words. Anna huffed in irritation and turned to walk away.

“Wait!” she heard Elsa cry. She ignored it, intent on getting Nora back to their room and tucked into bed. She was ready for this day to be over. “Nora’s still holding my glove. I need it back!” _Seriously?! The glove is still all she can think about?!_

Anna turned on her heel and gently pulled the glove out of Nora’s grip. The girl let go easily, grabbing hold of the materiel of Anna’s dress instead. “Here, take it. It’s all you care about anyway!” Anna started walking forward, planning to thrust the glove into her older sister’s hands before taking her leave, but Elsa quickly raised her gloved hand in a ‘stay away’ gesture, keeping the bare palm pressed against her side.

“No, don’t come any closer! Just set the glove on the ground and walk away!”

Confusion finally began to overtake Anna’s anger. “What?” she took another step forward, only to halt as she saw Elsa’s eyes widen in panic. “Elsa, what are you—” Anna took another step forward, quickly becoming concerned for the eldest sister.

Elsa’s bare hand came up, as if warding Anna off. “NO!”

Suddenly, a rumbling sound echoed throughout the ballroom, and giant clear spikes began shooting up between Elsa and her sisters. Anna turned, instinctively shielding Nora with her own body. When the room once again fell silent, Anna looked up, utterly confused by the sudden development. She studied the closest spike. “Is this … ice?”

“Sorcery,” the Duke of Weselton hissed like an upset cat.

Elsa looked horrified. “No,” she groaned. “No, please,” she turned and ran for the doors, leaving Anna staring at her in shock, a now quiet Nora held carefully in her arms.

“Elsa?” _What just happened?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna is tired of being kept in the dark, and Kristoff just wants to buy some carrots.

The minutes following Elsa’s dramatic exit were pure pandemonium. The panic over Elsa’s ice spikes was so intense that it took them nearly five minutes to coordinate enough to exit the ballroom. When they finally did, things only got worse.

Anna stood outside, staring in shock at the solid sheet of ice where rippling water had been only hours—even minutes—earlier. The snowflakes falling sedately from the sky would have been a lovely sight if it weren’t for the fact that it was July.

_Hey, that rhymed. Wait, no, focus. You’re in charge here, Anna. Find out what happened._

A group of villagers were standing around, equally as shocked but ironically far less immobilized by it than the assembled leaders had been. From her arms, Nora was looking around in confusion, her fist still clutching Anna’s dress in a death grip.

Having given up on getting any kind of coherent conversation out of the royals, Anna approached a young woman who was staring up at a jagged ice sculpture that had once been a fountain. “Excuse me,” Anna called, and the woman turned to her, revealing a whimpering baby in her arms. Nora shifted in Anna’s own arms to gaze curiously at the infant.

The woman looked dazed for a moment before realizing who had addressed her. “Oh, Princess Anna!”

Anna saw her begin to bow and raised a hand to stop her. “No need for formalities. I just need to speak with you for a moment. Besides, I know very well how hard it is to bend down when you have a little one in your arms. They seem to grow heavier by the moment after a certain point, don’t they?” Anna asked with a smile.

Her humor seemed to put the woman at ease. She smiled at Anna and eyed Nora with an air of concern. The five-year-old was still red eyed and had dried tears streaking her face. Nora barely noticed the attention, her entire focus on the baby. “Is she alright?” the woman asked.

Anna nodded, touched that the woman would take the time to ask after Nora even with all the drama going on. “She’s fine, thank you. It has just been a very stressful day, and it only seems to be getting worse. She’s not too fond of crowds, so being at the coronation was hard for her.”

“Poor thing,” the woman cooed. To Anna’s surprise, Nora spoke up.

“Is your baby a girl or a boy?” Nora asked.

Anna looked at her little sister in shock, but the woman just smiled at her brightly. “He’s a boy,” she answered. “His name is Elias.”

“You’re Elias’s Mama?”

“Yes, I am.” The woman sounded a bit bemused by the question. “My name is Ida.”

“My name is Nora. I don’t have a mama. I have an Anna, though. And that’s just as good.”

Anna could hardly believe it. Not only was Nora willingly speaking with a stranger, she was holding an actual conversation!

_Well, I guess I can add this to the list of things-I-really-didn’t-expect-but-happened-anyway-today. I honestly thought I was done with it when Elsa suddenly created magic ice and turned summer to winter, but nope. Still happening. Seriously, If Nora starts throwing fireballs or something, I’m going to bed._

“So, Miss Ida.” Anna broke in. “What exactly happened out here? I couldn’t get out of the ballroom quick enough to see.”  
Ida sighed, “I honestly don’t understand much of what happened, Princess Anna. We were just out here enjoying the festivities when Queen Elsa suddenly ran out the castle doors. At first, we thought she had come to greet the crowd, but she seemed upset about something. She stopped in front of me, not far from where we are standing now. I asked if she was alright, because she was curled in on herself and— if I can speak freely, your Highness?” Ida waited for Anna to grant her permission before she continued. “The queen looked like she was about to cry. But when I stepped closer, she yelled for me to step away. And then one of the visitors, the umm, unusually short one?” she offered, seemingly unsure how to describe the man without being offensive.

“The Duke of Weselton. Yeah, he’s tiny. And a terrible dancer. My feet still hurt from when Elsa made me dance with him.”

Ida laughed softly at Anna’s description. Her shoulders relaxed and she seemed to forget, or at least stop dwelling on, the fact that she was conversing with her princess. “Yes, him. He ran out after the queen, yelling some quite frankly horrible things.”

“What kind of things?”  
“His exact words were ‘Stop the witch.’”

“What?!” Anna yelped, turning to glare in the direction she had last seen the tiny man.

“I don’t agree with him, your Highness,” Ida said quickly. “But you did ask wat he said.”

“I’m not upset with you, ma’am. And I thank you for being so willing to offer information. If you will excuse me, there are some things that I need to do.”

“Of course, Princess.”

“Bye Miss Ida, bye Elias,” Nora said as Anna turned away from the woman and her son.

“Goodbye Princess Nora.”

By the time Anna found Gerda and Kai, Nora was starting to shiver. The air had not cooled immediately with the addition of the snow, but it was growing noticeably colder as time went on. It was almost as if Elsa’s magic was feeding off the warmth of the summer sun and turning it into new ice.

Anna tucked the girl’s head into her neck as she approached the familiar servants. “Do either of you have any idea what’s going on?” she asked.

Gerda and Kai exchanged a look, and Anna had to take a deep breath in order to avoid snapping at them. _I’ve snapped enough for one day, and all it did is make things worse. Pretend you’re talking to Nora when she’s trying to hide the fact she broke a rule. Patient but stern._

“This is not the time to hide things, Gerda, Kai. This has already happened, and there is no hiding it from anyone anymore. I need to go after Elsa, and I need all of the information I can get to have any hope of succeeding. Now, what do you know?” They both looked startled by Anna’s serious demeanor, as Anna had never really had a reason to speak to them that way. _Come on,_ Anna though impatiently. _I’ve been taking care of Nora since she was weaned. I’m not nearly as immature as everyone seems to think!_

“Queen Elsa has had ice magic ever since she was born,” Gerda said.

_“Gerda!”_ Kai hissed, looking shocked that she would dare speak up.

“Princess Anna is right, Kai. There is no keeping this secret anymore. And she needs to know.” She turned back to Anna. Her voice was barely a whisper, clearly meant for Anna’s ears alone.

“The late king and queen ordered that nobody was to know, including you. After they died, Queen Elsa continued that order.”

Anna nodded, unsurprised. Elsa hated anyone knowing anything about her. That secrecy was as much a part of her older sister as her white blonde hair. But one thing didn’t make sense. “If Elsa was born with powers, then why did she only shut me out when she was eight? If she’d always had them…” Anna trailed off as Gerda shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Princess, but there are some things that I still cannot tell you.”

Anna closed her eyes in frustration. _What is with all the freaking secrets in this family? After we get Elsa back, I think I’m gonna take Nora and become a dressmaker or something. Start a new life as a common worker. Being royal isn’t worth this._

“Whatever. First, I need to get Elsa. Is my horse ready?” She turned to Kai, who nodded reluctantly.

“She is being fetched now, Princess. The stable boy should be here with her shortly.”

“Good.”

Anna turned to the gathered crowd, raising her voice to address them all. “Until I return, hopefully with Queen Elsa, Gerda is in charge of this kingdom as temporary guardian of my younger sister, Princess Nora!”

“What? No!” Nora protested, clinging desperately to Anna’s neck as she tried to hand her off to Gerda. “You said you wouldn’t leave me alone, Anna! You promised!” Nora was crying again, and the sight felt like a knife burying itself into Anna’s heart.

“I know, Little Bird. And I’m so sorry I have to leave you with Gerda. But Elsa is upset and scared, and I need to go find her and make sure she’s alright. Do you understand, Nora?”

Nora sniffled unhappily, still clinging to Anna’s neck. “Why do you need to go? She’s a grown-up, older than you even. Can’t she take care of herself? I need you!”

“Sometimes grownups need help too, baby,” Anna tried to explain. She didn’t understand the situation herself, how was she supposed to explain it to her baby sister? “And right now, Elsa needs help. She’s our sister, and remember what I told you? Sisters take care of each other.”

Nora stared up at Anna, her face showing her low opinion of that statement. “Why? She’s never taken care of us before. Why should we care about her? I love you and you love me, why do we need her?”

“Because she’s our sister,” Anna explained as gently as she could. “And she belongs with us, whether she knows it or not. We just have to show her.”

Nora was still far from happy about the situation. She cried as Anna managed to gently unwind her arms from around her neck and hand her off to Gerda. The woman looked quite uncomfortable holding the sniffling little girl. Anna was out of cares to give, though. It was the adults’ own faults for letting things get this bad. Anna was just doing the best she could with what she was given, like always.

The stable boy arrived with Anna’s favorite mare saddled up and ready to go. Anna pressed one more kiss to Nora’s head. “I love you, my Little Bird. To the moon and stars.”

Nora’s voice was hoarse and phlegmy, but she replied as she had every time since she had first learned to talk. “Love you too. To the sun and back again.”

Anna smiled sadly, fighting every instinct that told her to take her sister and return to the castle. She’d never left Nora before, not since she was one and had begun changing from nursing to eating soft foods. And this was far from the best circumstances for their first separation.

Anna swung up onto her horse. She looked down at the collected group, a mixture of Arendelle citizens and foreign visitors. Everybody looked anxious and scared. Nobody had expected this turn of events. “I’ll be back,” she promised solemnly. _Of course I will be. I would never leave Nora._

“Please be careful, Princess,” Kai begged.

“She’s my sister,” Anna replied. “She would never hurt me.”

She wasn’t sure why, but the look Gerda and Kai exchanged at her words made her heart thump faster in her chest.

Kristoff had seen a lot of strange things in his life, what with being the adopted human son of a pair of stone trolls and being raised within their community, but a warm summer afternoon suddenly turning to a harsh midwinter storm was a new one on him.

Thank goodness Bulda had taught him to always keep at least one set of warm clothes in his sled, or his trek up the mountain would have been miserable. As it was, he wasn’t sure where he and Sven would be sleeping tonight. He had planned on just camping out under the stars, but that really wasn’t a good idea during a blizzard.

“Let’s go over to Wandering Oaken’s,” he said for Sven. “We can get some carrots and find out if he has a barn.”

“You and your carrots,” Kristoff sighed. “But I guess you’re right. It’s probably our best bet for now.”

And so they went. It wasn’t too bad. They were used to hiking up the mountain in less than ideal conditions, it was just that they were used to it in December, not July. But oh well, if being adopted by trolls had taught him anything, it was to be adaptable. And to eat pretty much anything. And to brace himself for impact when he heard his name shouted.

But anyway, he and Sven would be alright. They may not sell any ice for a while, but their family wouldn’t let them starve. They were nice like that.

When they arrived at Wandering Oaken’s, Kristoff felt more like a lump of ice himself than a man, but he was used to it. It was nowhere near as bad as the time he had fallen through the ice when he was sixteen. Sven had had to fish him out and carry him home. Bulda hadn’t let him out of bed for a week after that.

He stumbled in the doors, relieved to be out of the stinging wind. The scarf he had wrapped around his face seemed to be doing nothing to keep it out. _Seriously, it is July. What the heck ticked off the queen this badly?_

“You and this fellow,” Oaken said, clearly addressing the girl standing in front of his counter. She had obviously been caught by this storm unprepared, as she was wearing a sleeveless dress with no coat or shawl. Probably made her way here to get at least something to keep her from dying of frostbite on her way home.

“Yoo-hoo. Big summer blow out,” Oaken held up a bottle of one of his concoctions. Kristoff wasn’t sure which one, and he didn’t particularly care. He stomped up to the counter, trying to knock off some of the snow on his boots before it melted and inevitably leaked in and made his socks damp. That was a good way to lose a few toes in this weather.

He headed up to the counter where he knew the food, including Sven’s precious carrots, was kept. By the time he noticed that the girl was standing in his way, he had already nearly run into her. He stopped short, waiting for her to move out of his way.

Instead of moving over, she seemed to curl in on herself, one hand coming up protectively in front of her face. On her forearm, he could see a dark bruise in the clear shape of a hand. It was apparent that someone much larger than her had recently grabbed hold of her hard enough to cause injuries. And she was very uncomfortable with another much larger person standing so close to her.

Kristoff promptly stepped back, stopping only when he was well out of arms reach of the girl. His hands came up in a gesture of peace. His blood boiled at the thought of anyone laying their hands on someone so much smaller than themselves like that, but he made sure his voice was calm and unthreatening as he spoke to her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I shouldn’t have stood so close. I just need the carrots on the shelf behind you.”

“Oh, okay. Excuse me,” the girl said slowly, edging sideways cautiously so that she could move out of his way without turning her back to him. Kristoff was careful to remain still until she had moved far enough away that she seemed comfortable again.

“Real howler in July, yes,” Oaken said, either oblivious to the tension between his customers or trying to relieve it. “Wherever could it be coming from?”

“The North Mountain,” Kristoff replied absently as he grabbed a new pickaxe and rope from the pitifully tiny collection of winter gear available. He really regretted not packing his own when he left home, but he was just supposed to be selling ice at the coronation celebration, not harvesting it!

“The North Mountain,” the girl repeated under her breath. He wondered why it mattered to her, but he didn’t want to risk frightening her again by asking, especially when he was now holding something that could easily be considered a weapon. He gave her a wide berth as he approached Oaken’s counter. She seemed to appreciate it, as she no longer looked frightened of him when he caught sight of her from the corner of his eye.

“That will be forty,” Oaken told him.

“Forty?” Kristoff yelped. “No, ten.”

“Oh, that is no good,” Oaken replied. “See, this is from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem.”

“You want to talk about a supply and demand problem? I sell ice for a living!” Kristoff retorted.

“Yikes, that is a tough business to be in right now,” the girl said. Kristoff turned to look at her, and she leaned back slightly but seemed fairly confident that he meant her no harm. He couldn’t help but feel a little pleased by that. He hated when people were afraid of him. She ducked her head sheepishly as she finished her thought. “That’s unfortunate.”

Kristoff couldn’t tell if she was trying to help, but she didn’t seem to be trying to be rude, so he didn’t respond.

“Still forty,” Oaken said. “But I will throw in a visit to Oaken’s Sauna. Yoo-hoo, hi family!”

“Yoo-hoo!” Kristoff didn’t look at where he was waving.

“But ten is all I’ve got. Help me out here.”

“That will get you this,” Oaken replied, pushing the carrots forward, “but no more.”

“Come on, you’re killing me here. You’re taking advantage of stranded people, you crook!”

Kristoff regretted the words as soon as he said them, and that only got worse when he saw Oaken’s face darken. “What did you call me?” he demanded.

Before Kristoff could apologize, the man stood up. It wasn’t often that Kristoff was faced by men taller than him, but Oaken certainly was. He picked Kristoff up by the back of his coat as easily as a mama cat picking up a kitten, carried him to the door, and tossed him out on his face.

Kristoff sputtered. Spitting snow out of his mouth and trying to wipe it out of his eyes. “Bye-bye!” Oaken called as he closed the door behind him.

Kristoff sat up. Sven sniffed him excitedly before realizing he didn’t smell his favorite treat. “No, Sven, I didn’t get your carrots.” Sven huffed in disappointment and plopped down on his haunches. “But I did find us a place to sleep. And it’s free.”

Sven rolled his eyes but allowed Kristoff to use him as leverage as he hoisted himself to his feet. And together, the two friends headed to Oaken’s barn to settle in for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two socially awkward young adults try to have a conversation while a reindeer watches in amusement.

The last thing Kristoff expected was for the girl from Oaken’s to join them in the barn. So, true to the theme of the day, that was exactly what happened. _Expect the unexpected, except when it is expected it isn’t really unexpected, so should I still expect it? Okay, even Grand Pabbie would be lost in that sentence._

The girl was at least dressed for the weather now, so she must have had enough money to pay Oaken’s “supply and demand” prices. Kristoff was glad for that. Being trapped in the cold with no way to keep warm was miserable. He had spent many nights like that before Bulda and Cliff had adopted him.

“Hi.” The girl didn’t sound scared of him. She was smiling slightly as she spoke, but she was staying in the doorway, far enough away that she could escape back to Wandering Oaken’s if Kristoff were to make a threatening move. Not that he would, of course. He didn’t want to hurt her; he wasn’t a monster.

“Hello,” Kristoff said when he remembered that she probably expected a reply. “What are you doing here?” _Really, Kristoff? That’s a stupid question. This is the only free shelter nearby, and she just paid a fortune for a dress that would protect her from the cold. She probably wants to wait out the storm, same as you. Assuming ice magic storms end like normal ones._

“I wanted to speak with you, actually,” she interrupted his thoughts. “I, well, I wanted to ask you about why you said this storm was coming from the North Mountain?”

“Because it is coming from the North Mountain?” Kristoff tilted his head to the side, studying the girl curiously. Now that he was paying attention, he realized she was older than he had though. She was at least in her late teens—she was just tiny.

“But how could you be sure?” the girl— _no, woman, don’t be a jerk, Kristoff—_ young woman continued. She sounded almost desperate, and Kristoff found himself climbing to his feet in concern, ready to face whatever threat this lone stranger seemed to be so frightened of. He quickly regretted it—after all, it was impossible to hide just how much he towered over her when he was standing.

Thankfully, she didn’t seem bothered by his somewhat abrupt movement. She took a single step back but did not seem alarmed. She simply continued talking. “Did it seem, I don’t know, _magical_ to you?”

Kristoff blinked at that. Most people would consider it an odd question. He didn’t of course, but he had never actually spoken to another human who was aware of the stranger realities of the world. “Yeah, it did,” he answered truthfully. Was this woman also aware of the new queen’s powers? He had figured out the cause the blizzard pretty quickly, but only because he was already aware of the kingdom’s greatest secret. “Why are you asking that?”

The woman sighed, looking incredibly tired and frustrated. “Because I have had a very strange and stressful day, and apparently I need to hire someone to take me up the North Mountain.”

_Okay, I’m lost._ “You want to go _toward_ the crazy powerful magic turning summer to winter?”

“Not particularly,” the young woman shrugged, making Kristoff even more confused. “But I have to. I’m probably the only person who has a chance of stopping the winter, so I have to try for all of our sakes, really, but Elsa’s especially.”

_Wait, she calls the Queen by her given name? Who is she? Oh, right, I should actually ask that question out loud if I want an answer._

“Who are you?”

She looked startled for a moment before she let out a breathless chuckle. Kristoff was surprised to see her cheeks blush red. “Sorry, I forgot you are supposed to introduce yourself when meeting new people. It’s been a long time since I have. Made new acquaintances, that is. The last time I met a new person was five years ago, and that was just when my little sister was born. The time before that was when I was five myself so—wait, I was doing something. What was it? Oh yeah, introductions!”

She said all of that so quickly that Kristoff’s head was starting to spin. Sven let out an amused bray and shook his head, careful not to smack Kristoff with his antlers. The woman smiled sheepishly at Kristoff for a moment, apparently letting him regain his bearings before resuming. “My name is Anna,” she said when he nodded for her to continue.

_Wait, Anna, is familiar with the queen…_

“Wait, _Princess_ Anna?” he stumbled slightly on his feet, uncertain as to whether or not he should bow or something.

The woman— _Princess, and isn’t that a shock? I thought they never left their castle, let alone the city. Crap, I scared the Queen’s sister, didn’t I?—_ winced at Kristoff’s reaction. “Just call me Anna, please. I don’t really like the whole title thing. It just seems like a waste of time, you know?”

That was a bit of a surprise. Kristoff thought all royals paraded their titles around as arrogantly as they did their crowns. _Okay, a princess, but not stuck up. At least not so far._ “My name is Kristoff,” he answered for lack of anything else to say.

Prin— _Anna_ beamed, as if Kristoff’s name was the most precious gift she had ever been given. “It’s nice to meet you, Kristoff! What’s his name?”

Kristoff blinked in surprise as Anna pointed to Sven, who pushed passed him to sniff at the apparently displaced royal. “Sven.” Most people thought he was weird for introducing a reindeer. She just straight out asked for an introduction.

“Hi, Sven.” She giggled as Sven snorted in greeting and nuzzled her gloved palm. The reindeer then lowered his head and began sniffing insistently at the bag at Anna’s feet.

“No, Sven!” Kristoff yelped as his friend managed to shove his muzzle into Anna’s bag and began pulling something out. He reached out to grab one of Sven’s antlers, but Anna waved him away with a smile.

“No, it’s okay. I got those for him anyway. Well, actually for you, but I figure you don’t mind sharing.”

Kristoff was confused until he saw what Sven had clutched in his teeth: a carrot.

“You bought those for me?” He wasn’t sure what to make of this development.

“Well, like I said, I need someone to take me up the North Mountain. And I was kind of hoping you would be willing to do it. I’ll pay you, of course. We can work out the price, because I honestly don’t know what a fair one would be.”

Kristoff looked at her in shock, but she was watching Sven munch his carrot, avoiding his gaze. “You’re serious about this?”

Anna shrugged. “Why would I have traveled this far from the castle if I wasn’t serious?”

“How did you get this far, anyway?”

“On horseback.”

“Where’s your horse?”

“She threw me. Into a stream.”

Kristoff winced and hissed in sympathy. That would not have been fun. He was admittedly, a little impressed. Even if the stream she was talking about was the one he thought, it would still have been a good ten-minute walk through a blizzard to Oaken’s, soaking wet and likely literally freezing. Not something he would expect a princess to manage.

“Yeah, not a fun experience.”

“No, it wouldn’t have been.” Kristoff studied her for a moment. “Why do you think you need to be the one to go?”

“Who else will?” The simple question was filled with tiredness, frustration, and a third emotion Kristoff couldn’t quite identify. “Elsa’s magic caused this winter. But she didn’t do it on purpose! You should have seen her, she looked so scared and alone when she ran away. She’s my sister, regardless of what she did. And as her sister, I have to at least try to help her.”

Kristoff studied her for a moment. He could understand doing stupid things for the ones you care about. Heaven knows he’d go crazy if he knew Sven was out there somewhere, scared and alone. “Did you buy the pickaxe and rope too?”

Anna looked at him, hope starting to shine in her eyes. “Yes,” she said excitedly. She pulled said items out of one of the bags and tossed them in front of his feet. He picked them up and inspected them for a few moments.

When he was satisfied, he sighed and looked at Sven. The reindeer nodded enthusiastically, letting his approval be known. “Alright,” Kristoff agreed. “We’ll take you.”

“Really!?” Anna squealed. Kristoff hadn’t known that princesses squealed, but this one certainly did. “Oh, thank you!” She was bouncing in place with excitement. Sven ran forward and licked the side of her face. Kristoff expected Anna to be disgusted, but she merely laughed and stroked his ears affectionately.

“You should try to get some sleep,” Kristoff warned. “We’ll leave at dawn.”

Anna looked slightly less enthused. “Do we need to wait that long?” she asked. Kristoff almost snapped, but it was clear from her tone that she was simply asking, not demanding, so he bit it back.

“Yes. There are a lot of dangers on that path. It is better to travel when there is enough light to at least see them coming.”

Anna looked unhappy, but she nodded. “You’re the expert here. I’ll trust your judgement.” She gave Sven one last pat before heading to the opposite corner of the barn than the one Kristoff and Sven had been occupying. It wasn’t a huge amount of distance, but they could all stretch out without accidently smacking each other. She made herself a little pile in the hay before settling in. Once again, Kristoff was mildly surprised by her lack of complaints.

“You gonna be okay there?” Kristoff asked against his better judgement. “I mean, this isn’t exactly a sleeping arrangement fit for a royal.”

Anna giggled. “Oh, this isn’t the first time I’ve slept in a barn. I used to do it all the time after the gates were closed. I was lonely and the horses were the only ones who wouldn’t just tell me to go away.”

“Huh,” Kristoff huffed. “That doesn’t sound very… princess-y.”

“It wasn’t,” Anna replied with a laugh. “Mama and Papa always scolded me for it when they caught me, but that was rare. Mostly they were too busy with ruling to be bothered with what I did, and the servants were too busy keeping the castle running to bother telling on me.”

“Oh.” Kristoff didn’t know how to respond to that. Bulda had always noticed when he wasn’t where he was supposed to be when he was small. Especially at bedtime.

Unsure of what to say, Kristoff settled into the hay, pulled a carrot out of the bag, and took a bite. His crunching nearly drowned out Anna’s quiet snigger. “What?” he asked, his voice muffled by the half-chewed vegetable in his mouth.

“Swallow before you talk,” Anna said, with a raise of her brow that instantly reminded Kristoff of Bulda and had him obeying almost without thought.

“Sorry,” he apologized instinctively. Then he blinked. _Wait, why am I…?_

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” Anna squeaked, waving a hand in front of her as if to banish the words from between them. “Force of habit. I’m always having to get onto Nora for that, I guess the words just came out before I could stop them. That happens a lot.”

“Nora?” Kristoff repeated, more than willing to move past the slightly awkward moment. “She’s your little sister, right? I think I remember hearing about the late king and queen having another kid not long before they died.”

“Yeah, Nora’s my baby. Er—baby sister, I mean, although I do just call her my baby sometimes. ‘Cause she is, my baby, I mean, nobody else has the time, or, well, the inclination to actually take care of her. So, it kind of became my job. Not that I’m complaining of course,” Anna added quickly, as if afraid she was giving Kristoff the wrong impression. “Nora is the best thing to ever happen to me. I love her so much and I love taking care of her.”

“Still, must be hard,” Kristoff said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. He had babysat the youngest trolls sometimes, and that was exhausting. He couldn’t imagine one of them depending on him twenty-four-seven like that.

Anna looked startled by his words, as if nobody had ever acknowledged the burden—even if it was a welcome one—that she carried. “It can be,” she admitted quietly. “Sometimes. Especially when she was really little, and I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I still don’t, sometimes. But we’ve made it work. She seems happy most of the time, and I’m not alone. That’s all I ever wanted really.”

Kristoff studied her for a moment. She looked so young, but there was a kind of maturity in her voice that he had only heard in people who had been forced to grow up far before they should have. It was in his own voice sometimes, when he thought of his life before the trolls.

“I’m sorry for laughing at you, Kristoff.” Anna’s voice was warmer now, like she’d come to some kind of decision regarding Kristoff and was happy with it. “It was just how much you were enjoying that carrot. Nora would have been disgusted. She absolutely hates them. She calls them care-rottens.” Anna giggled as she repeated the little girl’s made-up word.

Kristoff chuckled as well. That sounded adorable, even if he didn’t understand how anyone could hate carrots.

Anna settled into the hay, looking more comfortable than a princess in a barn had any right to be. “Well, I guess I should let you get to sleep, especially if the trip is going to be as dangerous as you say. Good night, Kristoff.”

“Good night, Anna.”

_Out of all the surprises of the day_ , Kristoff thought, _meeting Anna might be the nicest one_. He had never had a human friend before, but maybe Anna could be his first. _Time will tell, as Grand Pabbie always says._

With that thought, Kristoff leaned against Sven’s flank, pulled his hat over his eyes, and settled in to sleep.

Kristoff was expecting Anna to be hard to wake the next morning, but she was already up and munching on a carrot of her own when he opened his eyes.

“Nora’s an ‘up with the sun’ kind of person,” she explained when she saw Kristoff’s surprise. “I haven’t slept past dawn since she learned to climb out of her cradle a month or so after our parents died.” She smiled sadly as she held out the leftover nub at the end of her carrot for Sven to eat. Kristoff watched her as he finished preparing his sled for their journey.

“It’s kind of ingrained at this point, I guess. I woke up waiting for her to poke my cheek or pounce on me, but then I remembered yesterday. I hope she slept alright.” Anna’s voice trailed off into a whisper, but Kristoff could still hear her clearly now that the wind had died down. “Gerda has never put Nora to bed before. Did she remember to read her a story? Or sing to her until she started to fall asleep? Or did she just push her into our room and tell her to go to bed like she did when I was that age?”

Kristoff felt completely out of his depth at the sudden rush of motherly concern coming from his new acquaintance— _friend?—_ and he reached out to awkwardly pat her shoulder. He froze a second after his hand made contact, afraid that he had made her uncomfortable, but she didn’t react beyond turning to face him. He let his hand drop. “I’m sure Nora will be alright.” He couldn’t say anything about this Gerda taking proper care of the child in question.

Frankly, after the small things that Anna had mentioned about her own childhood, he didn’t think he trusted any of the adult population of the castle (aside from Anna of course, but he seemed to remember that Anna had only been an adult for a few weeks at this point. There had been a small party in the village to celebrate, even if the birthday girl herself had not been allowed to attend) to do more than the bare minimum when caring for a kid. But he was certain that they would at least keep Nora alive and in relatively good health until Anna returned. _Probably shouldn’t say all that out loud. Anna is probably well aware of it. No need fan the flames and make her feel worse._

Kristoff’s words earned him a smile as he finished hitching Sven to the sled. Anna then allowed Kristoff to help her up into her seat. He took his own seat, picked up the reins, and they were off.

They traveled in silence for a while. Anna seemed awed by the scenery, swiveling her head back and forth in an attempt to take in everything she could.

_She’s been trapped in one place nearly all her life. Of course, this is exciting for her._ Kristoff was content to watch her for a while, feeling oddly fond as she giggled at every bump and gasped at every passing animal.

After she seemed to calm down a bit, Kristoff decided to ask something he had been wondering since yesterday afternoon. “So, what made the queen go all ice crazy?”

He regretted how blunt his question was when he saw Anna frown and hunch her shoulders. He was about to attempt to rephrase his question when she answered.

“It’s my fault. She was already upset, and I snapped at her and made things worse.”

Kristoff frowned. “What happened?”

“There was this jerk of a prince at the coronation,” Anna explained. “He wouldn’t leave me alone, no matter what I did. I was just trying to get food for Nora and me, but her cornered us against the table. He tried to get me to leave the party with him, and when I said no, he grabbed me.”

“Grabbed you?” Kristoff was starting to understand a few things about last night. “Is he the one who left those bruises on your arm?”

“You saw those?” Anna asked. Kristoff glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She was rubbing her arm where he knew the bruises lay under her sleeve. She looked a bit embarrassed. “Yeah, that was him.”

_So that’s why she was so jumpy. Great going, Kristoff. She was hurt by a guy who backed her into a corner and ignored her when she said she was uncomfortable. And what so you do? You back her into a corner._

“Nora saved me, though,” Anna continued. “When he wouldn’t let go, Nora threw an apple at his face and yelled loud enough to get pretty much everyone’s attention.”

Kristoff snorted a laugh. “An apple?” _I am liking this kid more and more._

Anna nodded excitedly. “Hit his right in the eye, too. I think his bruise is worse than mine.”

Kristoff couldn’t help it, he doubled over laughing. Anna’s laugh joined his. And for a minute, the two of them, a poor ice harvester and the princess of the kingdom, just sat there in Kristoff’s little reindeer drawn sled, pulling a load of ice and laughing like idiots.

“Thanks, Kristoff,” Anna said after they managed to calm down. “I really needed that laugh.”

“You’re the one with the amazing apple-throwing hero for a little sister,” Kristoff replied, and Anna giggled again. “But back to the story. Did the queen go crazy because Nora threw an apple at a foreign prince?”

That seemed to knock Anna out of her good mood. Kristoff missed her laugh as she lowered her head and looked sad all over again. “No. Elsa heard Nora yell and came over to see what was happening. When I told her what Prince Handsy had done, she seemed really mad at him.”

“Handsy?” Kristoff repeated in amusement.

“His real name is Hans,” Anna shrugged, “but personally, I think Handsy fits him better.”

“I’d have to agree. And Elsa was mad at him?”

“Yeah. I didn’t know she cared that much, so it was kind of nice in a way, you know? But then when she told Handsy off and told him to stay away from me, the creep actually had the nerve to ask for my hand in marriage!”

“Seriously?!” Kristoff couldn’t even imagine the audacity that would take. Assault a girl in front of her own family and then ask her to marry you?

“Yeah!” Anna looked baffled. “The guy seemed completely oblivious to just how stupid that was. But anyway, I yelled at him.”

“Good! He sounds like he needed to be yelled at!”

“But Elsa didn’t,” Anna sounded guilty again. “Nora isn’t used to conflict or yelling. She barely sees anyone other than me. She was already pretty stressed out by all the people and Handsy grabbing me and everything else. She got scared when I yelled, and she grabbed for my hand, like she does a lot when she gets scared and needs me to comfort her. But I was standing too far away, so she grabbed Elsa’s hand instead.”

“And that was a bad thing?” Kristoff guessed form her expression.

“I guess. Elsa freaked out. She pulled away so quickly that she knocked Nora to the ground and made her cry. And them I got mad at Elsa. I yelled at her, said some pretty nasty things. And she lost it. She was already so scared and angry and overwhelmed, and I just exploded at her instead of acting like a sister should.”

“Like I said, this is my fault. I have to at least try to fix it. For all our sakes.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are wolves, and Anna and Kristoff bond over a mutual distrust of pretty much every other person they know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, apparently I have accidentally fallen into a regular schedule for updates. Cool. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy in these crazy times.

Anna was having a pretty good morning, so far. The road they were traveling was beautiful, even underneath the magic snow covering everything. She could see some very confused deer and rabbits sniffing around for food as the sled traveled further into the forest. She had been trapped within that castle for so long that she had long since come to consider it as more of a prison than a home. Being out here, with nobody trying to control her and no responsibility to anyone but herself, was amazing. It was the first taste of freedom she’d had in probably her entire life.

Of course, she missed Nora. Her responsibility to her baby could be stifling sometimes, but it was a discomfort she bore gladly. It was much better than the deep, constant emptiness that had had taken over her life before Nora was born.

Truthfully, her life had revolved around her little sister for so long that being separated from her was like a physical ache. But she’d felt a similar ache for the last thirteen years, ever since she had woken up one morning only to find that Elsa no longer wanted anything to do with her.

So, the pain was easy to push to the back of her mind, along with all the other things she couldn’t afford to focus on. Plus, she had something she’d never had before—a friend!

Kristoff was quiet and blunt and he smelled like reindeer, but her had spoken to Anna without being forced to, had dropped the titles from her name when she asked, and was even helping her up the mountain to find her older sister.

Personality-wise, Kristoff seemed to be the polar opposite of Elsa. Anna felt a little bad to admit it, but she actually found that kind of comforting. It hadn’t been very long, but she had already spoken more to the ice harvester than she had to anyone other than Nora in over a year. Anna hadn’t realized how starved she was for adult conversation. She loved Nora more than anything, but not having to constantly watch what she said or repeat and explain any word she used that had more than three syllables was like stepping outside after spending hours holed up in a stuffy room.

So yeah, she was probably putting more trust in Kristoff than she really should after knowing him for less than a day, but to be fair, he had done more to earn it that any of the people she had known since birth.

_Kristoff is probably the only person in the world who I trust right now. Heaven knows Gerda, Kai, and Elsa don’t deserve it after this. Maybe he’ll help Nora and me find a place to settle after I move us out of the castle. I’m pretty sure Nora would adore him after she got over her stranger shyness. And from his smile whenever I talk about her, I think that might be mutual._

“You okay there, Anna? You’re being awfully quiet. And from what I’ve seen, that is not your natural state.” Kristoff’s voice startled her a bit, and she blushed in embarrassment.

“Sorry, just thinking.”

“”Bout what?”

“My sad, sad life,” Anna joked. When Kristoff frowned, Anna continued. “It’s just that, I’ve known you for what, nine hours at this point? And you’ve done more to deserve my trust than literally anyone. You don’t want to control me or keep me ignorant of things I have every right to know or dump your unwanted responsibilities on me, so you don’t have to do them yourself. We have an agreement, and we both plan to uphold it.” Anna shrugged, not really sure how to explain herself. “I feel like you’re a friend, I guess. I’ve only had one of those before, and she was my sister, and she still ended up abandoning me.”

“I’ve only ever had one friend too,” Kristoff responded with a small chuckle. “And he’s a reindeer. Sven’s never betrayed or abandoned me, though. So, I guess reindeers are better than sisters.”

Anna laughed, thankful that Kristoff wasn’t calling her crazy or implying she was a brat for being hurt by her sister’s actions. “He does seem like a good friend. I’d be grateful to have someone that loyal in my life.”

“Well, friends share,” Kristoff said off-handedly. “I guess we can all three have each other in our lives.”

Anna smiled brightly. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought Kristoff just admitted to thinking of her as a friend. She opened her mouth to reply when Kristoff suddenly froze and raised one hand to silence her, and Sven slowed to a creeping walk. Anna nodded, watching Kristoff’s face closely as he stared intently into the thick shadows cast by the now dense forest trees. He handed her a flint before grabbing the lantern hanging from a wooden stand attached to the front of the sled and holding it out to her.

Anna obligingly lit the lantern. Kristoff held it out in front of him as he leaned halfway out of the sled, aiming the soft glow into the gloom. Several small spots glinted in the sudden light, like stars pulled down to the earth.

Kristoff cursed. “Move, Sven!” he yelled, snapping the reins. The reindeer dutifully took off at full speed as a cacophony of howls broke through the former stillness of the woods.

“What are they?” Anna asked fearfully.

“Wolves,” Kristoff replied grimly as he hung the lantern back in place.

“Wolves?!” Anna yelped. _Apparently, it’s not just herbivores searching for food right now. Oh, no. No, no, no._

The wolves, frightened by the sudden winter and probably desperate to feed the newest batch of pups from the spring, were willing to take on prey they normally deemed too risky. Namely, a pair of humans traveling in a reindeer drawn sled.

Anna’s heart pounded as the sound of baying and howling continued to gain on them. “What do we do?”

“I’ve got this,” Kristoff said as he grabbed a wooden torch from the back of the sled and quickly lit it with the lamp. Anna felt the heat from the new larger fire wash over her like a slap to the face. “Just hold on and be careful not to fall out.”

“But I want to help!” Anna protested. _Don’t tell me he’s going to start doing the whole ‘you’re too weak and immature for this’ crap too! I was really starting to like him!_

“You’re not used to riding this fast,” Kristoff explained quickly. “It took a long time for me to learn to balance when Sven is in full gallop. I don’t want you getting eaten.”

Suddenly, a wolf decided to try its luck and lunged at the sled. Kristoff raised one leg and kicked it away before it could sink its teeth into him. “I don’t want to lose my first human friend that quickly!” he grunted.

As Kristoff turned to look at her, Anna saw another wolf launch itself towards his unprotected back. She reached blindly into the back and grabbed hold of the first thing she touched, a lute. She swung the wooden instrument, knocking the wolf off course and making it land in the snow with a whine. “I’m tougher than I look,” she said as Kristoff regarded her in shock.

“Wow,” was all he managed before a wolf managed to sink its teeth into Kristoff’s sleeve and drag him off of the sled.

Anna barely managed to catch the torch before it set fire to the sled. “Kristoff!” she yelled in concern.

Thankfully, the more experienced traveler had managed to grab hold of a rope and was now being dragged behind the sled. Unfortunately, a wolf bit onto his leg and was quickly followed by another grabbing the back of his coat, causing him to cry out in pain.

Anna looked around, forcing the panic down and attempting to think logically. Or at least usefully. She caught sight of Kristoff’s bedroll sitting on top of the supplies. Quickly, she used the torch to light it on fire and scooped it up. “Duck!’ she warned Kristoff before throwing it as hard as she could at the wolves that were trying to drag him off.

Kristoff yelped as he followed her instructions. The flaming bedroll flew over him and succeeded in knocking the wolves off. “You almost set me on fire!” he accused as he dragged himself back to the sled.

“But I didn’t,” Anna retorted. She grabbed his arm and managed to drag him back on board the sled.

The relief was short lived. Sven let out a warning bray. When Anna and Kristoff looked up, they saw that they were fast approaching a rather large gorge. Kristoff cursed again. Only years of raising a small child who had a habit of repeating everything she said prevented Anna from echoing him. There were still several wolves hunting them. If they stopped, they would be overwhelmed and eaten. They couldn’t stop, so their only options was continuing on.

“We’re gonna have to jump,” Anna said. Kristoff nodded stiffly. Without a word, he scooped Anna up, making her yelp in surprise, and threw her onto Sven’s back.

“Jump, Sven!” Kristoff yelled. Anna clung desperately to Sven’s harness, feeling the reindeer’s powerful muscles working as they came up to the edge. And then he jumped.

Anna couldn’t hold back a scream at the sudden feeling of weightlessness. She stared straight ahead, willing them to reach the other side intact.

Sven lurched forward as they landed, and for a heart stopping second, his hooves scrambled for purchase. But then— _Praise the gods!—_ he stabilized, and both human and reindeer breathed a sigh of relief as they realized they were once again on solid land.

Anna turned around, and her blood froze as she realized that Kristoff had not quite made it. He was clinging desperately to the side of the cliff, staring down into the gorge. Anna could see the snow around him crumbling rapidly. Soon there we be nothing to stop him from joining his sled, broken at the bottom of the ravine.

Thinking quickly, Anna grabbed a burlap sack that was tied to Sven’s bridle, having been put there after Kristoff claimed the bed of the sled was too full. Anna reached in, hoping desperately for a miracle. And amazingly, it was granted. Her hand closed around a wooden handle, and she pulled out a large hatchet, still tied with a long coil of rope. Anna tied the end of the rope to Sven’s bridle and threw the hatchet to Kristoff.

It landed right in front of him just as he was starting to slip. “Grab on!” Anna yelled, and he did. She grabbed hold of the rope and pulled as hard as she could. “Pull, Sven, pull!” she called.

Together, the princess and the reindeer managed to hoist the ice harvester back onto solid ground.

Kristoff just laid in the snow for a few moments, breathing heavily. Anna winced guiltily as she watched him. “Are you okay?” she asked softly.

With his face still buried in the snow, Kristoff made a sound that greatly resembled the bray Sven had let out upon noticing the impending gulf. He raised one hand in a vague waving motion that Anna wasn’t certain how to interpret. She glanced at Sven, hoping the reindeer might be able to shed some light on his human companion’s behavior.

Sven nodded and rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, which Anna construed to mean ‘He’s fine, he’s just being dramatic.’

“I’ll add a replacement sled on top of whatever price we agree on,” Anna said nervously. “I didn’t expect something like that to happen, which probably shows how clueless I am about the outside world. I understand if you don’t want to help me anymore.”

Kristoff finally moved, pushing himself up onto his arms and looking up at Anna. “No, I’m not going to abandon you,” he sighed, not sounding particularly enthusiastic in his response. Sven on the other hand, let out an excited bray and licked Anna’s face before lowering his head and doing the same to Kristoff.

Anna wiped the reindeer spit off her face while Sven was distracted (it seemed rude to do it while he was watching, just like how she would never wipe the residue of one of Nora’s messy kisses off her cheek until after she looked away when she was a toddler). Kristoff hoisted himself to his feet and regarded Anna with the sense of slightly bewildered amusement that he had taken to regarding her with whenever she broke into one of her longer babbles. “I already told you, Anna,” he said with a slight chuckle. “I don’t want my first human friend to be eaten by wolves.”

Anna beamed at Kristoff, and Kristoff smiled back.

_Well, this day just keeps getting more and more interesting,_ Kristoff thought as he watched Anna conversing enthusiastically with Sven. Well, Anna was doing most of the talking, but she paused every now and them to let Sven nod or shake his head in response. He had even broken in once to ask a question for Sven in his “Sven voice,” and was slightly surprised when Anna had barely blinked before answering it. When she saw his expression, she shrugged before explaining.

“I used to talk to the paintings in the castle all the time, especially before Nora learned to talk. They were usually the only human faces I saw most days, before Nora, I mean. I never really spoke _for_ them, but it’s not like they actually had their own thoughts like Sven does, so I guess that makes sense. I did pretend that they told me things and responded to what I said, so I guess the only real difference was that my conversations were a lot more one sided.”

Kristoff had just nodded, having a pretty good sense of just how lonely Anna’s life had been by this point. Sven had licked her face, drawing out a laugh, and Kristoff had allowed them to go back to their somewhat improvised game of twenty questions as they walked.

They were making surprisingly good time, Kristoff had to admit. He had expected to have to slow his pace and take a lot of rests to accommodate the young princess. While he did have to walk slower than he normally would, it hadn’t been nearly as much as he would have thought, and she didn’t ask for any extra breaks at all. Then Kristoff remembered Anna’s somewhat hyperactive nature and her admission that she spent most of her time chasing a five-year-old girl, and then he thought about how excitable the youngest trolls were.

_No, it’s not that surprising,_ Kristoff decided.

It was nearing midday when Anna suddenly stopped. Kristoff turned to look at her, because it really was time for them to take a rest and eat some of the food that had thankfully been in one of the bags that he had tied to Sven’s bridle. But the princess didn’t look tired or hungry. She looked _sad._

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Anna glanced at him before looking down from the ledge that dropped off just past the edge of their path. “Arendelle,” she breathed solemnly.

Kristoff followed her gaze, blinking in shock when he saw the city below them. “It’s completely frozen.”

Anna nodded, leaning against his shoulder briefly before seeming to realize what she was doing and straightening quickly. “But Elsa can unfreeze it,” she said. Kristoff couldn’t help but think that she sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than anything.

“Are you sure?” he asked. He didn’t mean to sound discouraging, but it seemed like a question that needed to be asked.

Anna sighed, the exhausted sound pulling at Kristoff’s heartstrings. “No, I’m not,” she admitted. “But she’s our best chance. We have to least get her to try.”

Kristoff nodded. She was right, really. Elsa was the one with ice magic, so she was really the only one who had a chance of stopping her winter. Plus, it seemed cruel to keep pressing for certainties that Anna clearly didn’t have.

When the sadness didn’t leave Anna’s eyes, Kristoff, remembering how she had instinctively reached out to him before pulling back, decided to try to offer reassurance.

He wasn’t exactly sure how humans reassured each other. The trolls would tackle hug him and offer him food and songs until he fell asleep. Sven would lean against him and rub his back with his antlers.

Anna was pretty tiny, and Kristoff didn’t want to risk crushing her with a tackle, so he decided to go with Sven’s method. Carefully, Kristoff moved closer to Anna until his shoulder was pressed against hers, ready to pull away if she expressed any discomfort with his closeness. He was relieved when she leaned into him instead. Since Kristoff didn’t have antlers, he slowly raised the arm closest to the princess and draped that across her back instead.

The two of them stood together for moment, the poor ice harvester offering comfort to the Princess of Arendelle, while a reindeer looked on with a fond expression in his eyes.

When Anna pulled away, Kristoff felt a strange sense of coldness that had nothing to do with magic snow. But then Anna smiled at him, a true, bright smile that was on her face because of his actions, and warmth built up in his chest. “Thanks, Kristoff,” Anna said softly. “No-one has bothered to comfort me in years. Nora’s too little to understand, usually. She was too young to remember our parents, and she never even met Elsa before the Coronation. So, I just smile through it and think up something to distract us both. I’m a mother,” Anna finished with a shrug, “and mothers don’t get to be upset when their kid needs them.”

Kristoff just pulled her into his side for another brief hug, now that he knew he was allowed to give them. “Everyone deserves someone to lean on when they need it,” he told her.

“Yeah,” Anna replied, turning away to continue their trek, “but that doesn’t mean everyone gets one.”

Kristoff walked beside her. He reached out to let his hand lightly brush against hers. “Now you have one,” he said simply.

She didn’t reply, but the shy smile on her face said everything.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wild Olaf appears, and Anna tells a story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit longer than usual. Also, the story that Anna tells in completely my own creation. Enjoy!

Kristoff sighed as he glanced over his shoulder at the unusually quiet princess. She hadn’t said much since their discussion earlier, no matter how many times Sven tried to pull her into another game of twenty questions.

She seemed to appreciate his awkward attempts at comfort earlier, but Kristoff knew better that anyone that sometimes you just need time alone to work through your own thoughts. So, he left her alone, contenting himself with chatting quietly with Sven and admiring the Queen’s magic snow.

Hey, it might be out of season and potentially disastrous, but come on, it’s still beautiful stuff!

Anna seemed to agree, especially when they came across a particularly breathtaking scene. The flash frozen trees had dropped their dew left from the recent rainstorm, resulting in an effect not unlike a crystal chandelier. The clear droplets hung from icy tendrils, sparkling vibrantly in the afternoon sun.

Kristoff lightly swung a few, and they made a sound like windchimes as they connected with each other. Sven apparently liked the sound, because he let out an excited bray and started batting at them with his antlers. The two humans left him to his moment of fun, continuing through the magical scene.

“I never knew winter could be so… beautiful,” Anna breathed as Sven caught up to them, several crystal tendrils caught in his antlers. He didn’t seem bothered by them, so Kristoff decided to let him be for the moment.

Before Kristoff could reply to Anna’s statement, another voice beat him to it.

“Yeah, it really is beautiful, isn’t it?” the voice said. It sounded like a man’s voice, and Kristoff had to fight the urge to put himself between Anna and whoever it was. He knew she was far from helpless, but he couldn’t quite shake the protectiveness he felt for her.

“But it’s so white,” the voice continued. “How about some color? I’m thinking like maybe some crimson, chartreuse, how about yellow?” There was a pause. “No, not yellow. Yellow and snow? Brrr, no go.” The voice let out a giggle, and it sounded like it was coming from right behind them. Kristoff and Anna whirled around, and Kristoff couldn’t help it—he gaped.

Even with all the things that had happened these last few days, this was taking it to yet another level of weird.

“Am I right?” the living snowman asked, staring up at Anna with a bright grin.

Anna screamed and jumped back, accidently kicking the snowman in the belly. The lowest section of his body was knocked clean away, making his head drop onto the ground. “Whoa,” the head said, blinking quickly as if feeling dazed after a sudden fall. Which, Kristoff supposed, he probably was. His dark eyes, the only part of him not obviously made of snow or wood, darted around quickly. “Hey, did any of you see where my body went?” he asked casually, apparently unconcerned by his status as a disembodied head.

“Umm,” Anna said uncertainly, breaking off in a yelp as said body ran by, stick arms reaching out in front of it in an attempt to make up for the lack of sight. It didn’t seem to work, as it ran straight into Kristoff.

“You’re creepy,” Kristoff stated. He pushed the headless snowman away from himself and into Anna, who pushed it right back to him.

“Hey, wait!” the snowman called, his voice still cheerful. “Push it my way, would you? I kind of need that.”

Grimacing slightly, Anna gingerly grabbed hold of one of the snowman’s stick arms and led it to where the head was. She directed its hand to the head and was rewarded with a thankful thumbs up from the other hand. It reached down, picked up the head, and unceremoniously plopped it back onto its torso.

Upside down.

“Wait, what am I looking at here?” the snowman asked, staring at Anna in confusion. “Why are you hanging off the Earth like a bat?”

_A snowman with emotions,_ Kristoff thought, still feeling dazed. _Wonderful._

“Wait, here,” Anna said, sympathy quickly replacing the uneasiness in her voice. She gently righted the snowman’s head before stepping back to take in the sheer insanity of the situation.

“Ah, thank you.” The snowman smiled at her. “Now I’m perfect,” he said, flexing his wooden fingers and bouncing in place in a way that reminded Kristoff oddly of Anna when she was excited.

“Well,” Anna said, studying him for a moment. “Almost.” She reached over to the bag of food that was tied to Sven’s bridle and pulled out a carrot.

“It was like my whole life got turned upside down.” Right as she reached out to push it into the snowman’s face, he turned his head, causing the carrot to push all the way through and poke out on the other side.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Anna gasped, and Kristoff winced at the sight.

“Whoa, head rush,” the snowman exclaimed, shaking his head and blinking up at Anna.

“Are you okay?” Anna asked fearfully, and Kristoff was a little surprised at how quickly she had gone from fearing the odd little thing to fearing _for_ it.

“Are you kidding? I am wonderful!” the snowman gushed. “I’ve always wanted a nose.” He lightly tapped the tiny sliver of carrot sticking out from the front of his face. “It’s so cute,” it cooed, “like a little baby unicorn.”

Anna reached back and gently pushed it forward, so that the carrot was only lightly in his face instead of impaling it. “Oh, I love it even more now,” he— _the snowman was obviously alive, and sounded male, so I’m going with that. It seems wrong to call something that can talk an it—_ said, his odd buck-toothed mouth pulled into a wide grin.

“Okay, let’s start this thing over,” the snowman said. “Hi everyone, I’m Olaf. And I like warm hugs.”

“Olaf,” Anna whispered, sounding dazed. She stared at him for a moment before her face brightened with something resembling recognition. “That’s right,” she said with an amazed laugh. “Olaf.”

The snowman, Olaf, nodded. “And you are?” he prompted.

“Oh, I’m Anna.” She smiled at him like she was greeting an old friend. He was obviously made by the queen, so maybe he was, somehow. Maybe it was something from when they were children, before whatever had happened that had left the queen a shut-in and Anna struggling on her own.

“And who’s the funky looking donkey over there?” Olaf asked.

Anna frowned disapprovingly at him. “It’s not nice to call someone funky looking,” she scolded gently. “And Sven is a reindeer, not a donkey.”

“No, I know what a reindeer is. I meant the other one,” Olaf clarified, still smiling.

Kristoff frowned in offense.

“Olaf,” Anna said, her voice elongating the syllables of the name in the way of displeased mothers everywhere. “That was very rude. If you know what a reindeer is, I’m sure you know what a human looks like. Calling Kristoff a donkey is not acceptable.”

“Oh,” Olaf lowered his head like a scolded child.

“Did you actually think that Kristoff and I were donkeys?” Anna asked in a tone that Kristoff had heard many times from Bulda when she knew he had done something wrong and was trying to get him to acknowledge it.

“No,” the snowman admitted. “I just thought he looked funny, like a donkey.”

“And was that a nice thing to say?” Anna asked, her arms crossed over her chest as she regarded the little being with an expectant expression. In that moment, Kristoff could definitely see Anna as someone who was a parent to a small child, and he had no doubt that she was good at it.

Olaf studied her for a moment before responding. “No?” It sounded more like a guess that a definitive answer.

Anna nodded. “That’s right. It was a mean thing to say. Do you know what you do when you realize you said or did something mean?”

Olaf shook his head. He looked so confused and remorseful in that moment that Kristoff couldn’t help feeling bad for him. After all, you can’t take a little kid’s words to heart, and that seemed to be pretty much what Olaf was.

“You say you’re sorry to the one you were mean to,” Anna informed Olaf, her voice softening considerably as it became clear that Olaf’s words were innocently meant.

Olaf nodded quickly before turning to Kristoff. “I’m sorry I called you a funky looking donkey, Kristoff,” he said. He turned to Anna, who smiled and nodded to show that he had apologized correctly.

Anna then looked at Kristoff and arched her brow expectantly. Catching the hint, Kristoff said, “I accept your apology, Olaf.” That earned a smile from Anna.

“Good job, Olaf,” Anna praised. She opened her arms, and Olaf squealed and threw himself into them for a hug. When she released him, he was all smiles again.

“Olaf, did Elsa make you?” Anna asked.

“Yeah, why?” the snowman replied.

“Do you know where she is?” Anna asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Can you take us to her?”  
“Yeah, why?”

“Because we need to talk to Elsa and see if she can bring back summer,” Anna told him.

Olaf gasped. “Summer?” he asked excitedly. “Oh, I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved the idea of summer and sun and all things hot.” He gave a dreamy smile at the thought.

“Really?” Kristoff asked, torn between amusement and pity. “I’m guessing you don’t have much experience with heat.”

“Nope.” Olaf’s reply was cheerful and matter of fact. “But sometimes I like to close my eyes and think about what it would be like if summer did come.”

Anna winced. “Olaf, summer would be very dangerous for you. You will have to be very careful when it comes.”

“What?” Olaf asked, looking upset. “But it’s so pretty, isn’t it? Why would it be bad?”

“Everyone has things that are dangerous for them,” Anna explained gently. “It doesn’t make those things bad or mean you can’t enjoy them. It just means you have to be careful. But don’t worry. Elsa made you, so I’m sure she can make sure you’re safe when it gets warmer. And even if she can’t it’s always cold enough for snow on the mountain. If we need to, we’ll make you a home there and visit you for hugs and games. I think you and my little sister would have a lot of fun together.”

“Really?” Olaf asked, his worry over potential danger completely overtaken at the thought of a potential playmate. “What’s her name?”

Anna gave the soft smile that Kristoff had come to identify as her “Nora expression.”

“Her name is Nora,” Anna replied. “She’s five.”

“Does she like warm hugs?” Olaf asked.

“She sure does,” Anna laughed. “We can talk about her all you want, but we should do it while we walk. Which way should we go, Olaf?”

“Come on!” the snowman called, taking off. “Elsa’s this way. Let’s go bring back summer!” Sven took off after him, although whether he was chasing the snowman as a whole or simply his carrot nose remained to be seen.

Kristoff turned to Anna. “I don’t think he really got the point about summer being dangerous to him.”

“Does any little kid really understand danger until they see it for themselves?” she asked with a shrug. “I told Nora dozens of times not to touch the cookies until they were cooled when she was a toddler, but it wasn’t until she managed to get past me and burned herself that she stopped trying.”

Kristoff nodded, remembering a few incidents the youngest trolls had gotten into over the years. “Good point,” he admitted. “I guess we’ll have to keep an eye on him until we see if the Queen can keep him safe in warm weather or not.”

Anna beamed when she heard him say ‘we.’ “Yeah,” she said, reaching out to grasp his gloved hand in her own for a moment in a gesture of gratitude. “We will.”

“Come on, guys!” Olaf called impatiently, and the two humans laughed as they followed.

They walked for a while in silence, letting their minds wrap around the newest insanity that was Olaf the living snowman. After maybe an hour, Kristoff spoke up.

“Things just keep getting weirder and weirder,” Kristoff sighed, watching Sven playing with Olaf and making occasional grabs for his carrot nose.

“I know,” Anna agreed. She shook her head. “I can’t believe that two days ago, my biggest fear was Nora having a meltdown during the Coronation. Now I’m climbing a mountain with a man I barley know but is probably the best friend I’ve ever had, his reindeer best friend and a living snowman while trying to track down my apparently magic sister to convince her to end the eternal winter she accidently caused when a yelled at her.”

Kristoff chuckled at her attempt at humor. “Sounds like some kind of crazy story, doesn’t it?”

“Story?” Olaf’s voice broke in. The snowman, having apparently grown bored of his game of chase with Sven, had wandered back to the humans, and was now staring up at them with his wide, childlike eyes. “I’ve always wanted someone to tell me a story.”

“How long have you wanted that?” Kristoff asked in amusement.

“Ever since I can remember!” Olaf exclaimed.

“Which is what, a day and a half?” he joked. His laugh was cut off with a groan of pain when Anna elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“Don’t tease him,” she scolded. Kristoff nodded, wincing and rubbing the forming bruise on his side.

“So, will you tell me a story, Anna?” Olaf asked hopefully. “I think I would really really like that.”

“You would, huh?” Anna asked playfully, and Olaf nodded so hard his head nearly fell off. “Alright, then,” she agreed. “It’s not like there’s a whole lot else to do while we’re walking, anyway.”

Olaf gasped joyously. “You hear that, Sven?!” he called. “Anna’s gonna tell us a story!”

Sven seemed pretty excited too, lumbering up to the redhead and looking at her expectantly. Kristoff didn’t want to admit it, but he was kind of happy about it too. It would be a nice distraction from the monotony of walking.

“What’s the story called, Anna?” Olaf asked, nearly jumping up and down in exhilaration. If he were a human child, Kristoff would ask him if he needed to go to the bathroom.

“Sun Princess and Moon Princess,” Anna replied. “It’s a bedtime story I made up for Nora when she was really little. It’s her favorite out of the stories I’ve told or read to her.”

“Sounds amazing,” Kristoff said, smiling at her. She blushed at the implied praise.

“Okay, here we go.

“Far away,” Anna began, “there lies a kingdom called Morgenveld. Now, Morgenveld is no ordinary kingdom. It resides within a beautiful land filled with forests and rivers and oceans. And even more amazing than the land, are the people.

The people of Morgenveld are blessed with magic. And really, they weren’t all people as we know them. It is home to humans, yes, but also fairies and nymphs and trolls and all sorts of wonderful folks, all living in harmony within the great kingdom of Morgenveld.”

Kristoff and Sven exchanged a smile at the mention of trolls, both pleased by their inclusion as ‘wonderful people.’

“But Morgenveld had one problem,” Anna continued. “The people who lived there were all very different, which was wonderful for the most part, but sometimes it made it hard to rule fairly. Because of all the different magical folks who live there, not all of them are awake at the same time.”

“Why is that such a big problem?” Olaf asked. Anna smiled and lifted a finger to her lips as a silent request for him to wait and listen.

“The humans, the fairies, the nymphs, and a bunch of other inhabitants of Morgenveld were awake during the day. That was when they worked and played and learned. Which was fine for them, because they loved the sun and they did best when they had its light to see by. So those people slept during the night.

“But other people, like the trolls and the ogres and the elves didn’t like being awake during the day. The sunlight hurt their eyes, you see, in the ogres and elves case at least. And the trolls loved the stars and the stories they told. They liked to work and play and learn at night. Which was fine for them, because they loved the moon and did their best when they had its light to see by. So those people slept during the day.

“So, this led to a problem. How would they keep things going when so many people were always sleeping while the others were awake? They needed different teachers and guards and shopkeepers and bakers and candlestick makers so that everyone could get what they needed no matter when they were awake and when they slept. They did their best and managed to find a system that worked in the end, but there was still one problem.

“Would the rulers be awake during the day, or during the night?”

Anna paused for a moment, watching Olaf’s thoughtful expression fondly, and Kristoff was struck by the image of a younger Anna— _far, far too young to be forced to take on such a heavy responsibility but doing it anyway because nobody else would—_ pausing in the telling of this story to check if the infant she held had fallen asleep yet, or gently encouraging a toddler to voice her own guess.

When no such guess was spoken by the snowman, Anna continued the story. “The king and queen of Morgenveld had a hard time with this problem. The queen was half human and half elf, but she had learned to stay awake during the day after she fell in love with the full human king, so that they could spend time together. Since she was half human, which meant that the light didn’t hurt her eyes like full elves, this didn’t bother her.

“But with the king and queen both asleep, how would the Night Dwellers make themselves heard when they had problems? How could the king and queen make decisions that were best for everyone in their great kingdom if they had no idea what half of them were like, because they were never awake at the same time?” Anna’s voice took on a dramatic tone as she asked the questions, and Olaf started up at her, utterly transfixed. Kristoff couldn’t blame him.

“It was a big problem, and one that they didn’t know how to solve. So, the king and queen made a point to stay up late whenever they could, so that the Night Dwellers could speak to them if they needed to. But this took a toll on them, and they were very tired all the time.

“But tired or not, they continued to work for the good of their people, all of them, as good rulers do. And eventually, the king and queen were blessed with children.

Their first child was a little girl with her father’s golden hair, eyes as blue as the midday sky, and rounded human ears. She loved the sunlight and was often found laughing and playing in the fields of their magical home during the day. They named her Iliana, the Sun Princess.”

“Their second child was born a few years later. Another little girl, but with her mother’s dark hair, eyes as silver as the full moon, and pointed elf ears. She loved the moon and was often found at her window at night, watching the stars long after she and her sister had been sent to bed. They named her Lorena, the Moon Princess.

Despite their differences, Iliana and Lorena were the best of friends, always playing together and having adventures in the woods both during the day with their Day Dwelling friends, and during the night with their Night Dwelling friends. As true citizens of their kingdom, they never thought one was above the other. All differences were to be celebrated in Morganveld, after all.

As the girls got older, so did their parents. And eventually, it came time for the parents to pass on their crowns and the older sister to become Queen Iliana. But when their parents told the girls that it was time to plan Iliana’s coronation, she surprised them.

‘It might be time for you to pass on the crowns,’ Iliana said. ‘But you won’t give them just to me. Lorena is going to be queen, too.’

‘But there can’t be two queens,’ argued the king. ‘That’s not how it works. There is a king and a queen. You can still have your sister help you, but the crown only goes to one.’

‘But Father,’ Lorena said, holding tight to her older sister’s hand. ‘We need two queens. Remember how you and mother have struggled to make sure the Night Dwellers are treated equally to the Day Dwellers? You have tried so hard to be king and queen of both, but it meant you never got to sleep at all.’

“’Exactly,’ Iliana agreed. ‘And we think that we have a solution. I will be Queen of the Day Dwellers. I prefer the daytime, and I love the sunlight, so that is when I will be awake and ruling the people.’

‘And I,’ continued Lorena, ‘will be Queen of the Night Dwellers. I prefer the nighttime, and I love to be awake when the stars are out, so that is when I will be awake to rule the people. Then they will always have a ruler who is awake and ready to hear them and help with the problems of the land. And neither of us will have to exhaust ourselves staying awake during both the day and night all the time.’

“The king and queen looked at each other with pride, for their children had managed to solve a problem that had been puzzling them for years. But as good of a solution as it was, there was one problem.

‘When will you see each other?’ their mother asked. ‘I know you love each other dearly. If you do this, you’ll never be awake at the same time.’

‘We’ll see each other every day,’ Iliana answered. ‘At the in between times. We will have an hour together at dawn when I wake up and Lorena is getting ready to sleep, and an hour at dusk, when she is waking, and I am preparing to sleep. And we will have one day a week where we will take turns, one of us will sacrifice our sleep every other week so that we can stay aware of the goings on of the kingdom at both times.’

Lorena nodded her head. ‘We are sisters, and we always will be no matter what.’

And that is what they did. In a coronation that lasted all day and all night so that everyone could attend, the Sun Princess and Moon Princess became the Sun Queen and the Moon Queen. And they reined just as they said, each of them presiding over their subjects fairly and equally, much the joy of those subjects, who had grown worried about their exhausted former rulers and frustrated that one side seemed like it would always be neglected.

Every day at dawn, Queen Iliana would rise from her bed and meet with her sister, Queen Lorena in the library. They would talk and laugh and take full advantage of every moment they had. And when their hour ended, Queen Iliana would walk her sister to her room, tuck her into bed, and say, ‘Time to sleep, sister mine. Up came the sun, your work it done. Sleep my precious sister, and always remember that I love you.’

And then Queen Iliana would go about her day, ruling over the Day Dwellers of her kingdom.

And every night at dusk, Queen Lorena would rise from her bed and meet with her sister in the library. Both would sit and enjoy their time together, savoring every moment. And when the hour past, Queen Lorena would walk Queen Iliana to her room, tuck her into bed, and say, ‘Time to sleep, sister mine. Down went the sun, your work is done. Sleep my precious sister, and always remember that I love you.’

And then Queen Lorena would go about her night, ruling over the Night Dwellers of her kingdom.

And every Saturday, one of them would sacrifice their sleep so that they could spend the day together, playing together as sisters, just as they had since they were children.”

“Wow,” Olaf said. “That was a great story, Anna.”

“It was,” Kristoff agreed, and Sven nodded in agreement.

Anna blushed, ducking her head. “Thanks. Nobody but Nora has ever heard it before. It was nice to have a new audience.”

“It was a great first story, Anna!” Olaf said brightly. “I can se why it’s Nora’s favorite, it’s even about sisters, just like you two.”

“Yeah,” Anna agreed sadly. “It is.”

Kristoff laid a hand on her shoulder, and she offered him a slightly shaky smile. He understood.

The story was about sisters, sure. But only two.

There were three sisters in the royal family, but the oldest had been taken out of their story a long time ago.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kristoff comes to a realization and promptly shares it with Anna. Anna is awed by his ability to share important information without being forced to.

Anna was tired, hungry, and her feet were blistered and sore.

But was also smiling brightly, her ribs aching from laughter at Kristoff’s story of a few of his young cousins attempting to play a prank on their mother and accidently ending up covered in pond scum. Olaf’s chatter made a pleasant background noise as he exclaimed in wonder over everything from frozen puddles to the occasional wandering animal, often unintentionally moving away just as Sven made yet another grab for his carrot nose.

All that was missing was Nora, riding on Sven’s back or maybe Kristoff’s shoulders. She imagined that the little girl would regard Olaf’s discoveries with equal awe, demanding that Anna identify and explain each new thing, giggling and scolding Sven after each unsuccessful carrot theft, ardently proclaiming the evils of the ‘care-rottens,’ and claiming they were put to much better use as noses than food anyway.

(Anna desperately wanted to add another person to her mental image. A white haired and apparently magical young queen whose actions Anna had no idea how to predict. But she shoved those thoughts back into the dark corner of her mind labeled _DO NOT THINK ABOUT_. She had learned a long time ago that wishing for impossible things only lead to heartbreak.)

Still, Anna was happier in this moment than she could ever remember being. Even her nervousness over confronting her wayward older sister and her longing to be reunited with her baby were overshadowed by the sheer pleasure she felt at being outside, with another adult she was rapidly developing a fondness for, a reindeer that never failed to make her laugh, and a snowman that reminded her endearingly of Nora as a toddler.

Anna slipped on an icy patch, and Kristoff caught her arm before she could fall rather inelegantly onto her butt. She smiled at him in thanks. He nodded in reply, but his expression was troubled as he studied her face with an intensity that took her breath away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. He was watching her with open concern, his hand still gently grasping her upper arm in a gesture that had gone from simple assistance to an attempt at reassurance. It felt so odd to have that directed at her. She was the one who comforted others, not the one who was comforted.

“Nothing.” She shook her head and offered Kristoff the smile that always calmed Nora on the increasingly frequent occasions that the little girl caught onto her big sister’s less pleasant emotions. Unlike Nora, Kristoff didn’t seem reassured. The furrow in his brow deepened, and the hand moved from her arm to her shoulder, a slight pressure that she found oddly comforting.

“I’m not a five-year-old,” Kristoff told her softly. “If you don’t want to talk, then I won’t push. But you don’t need to protect me form the big bad world like you do for Nora. You can lean on me if you need to.”

Anna huffed a laugh. “Sorry, I know you’re not a child, and I know I don’t have to protect you. It’s just…” She trailed off with a sigh as Kristoff was forced to duck a low hanging branch. She liked Kristoff, but they weren’t really to the ‘spill my soul to you’ stage of their friendship quite yet.

“It’s okay.” Kristoff smiled at Anna, and she felt her face warming in a blush. “Like I said, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. I just think it’s about time someone bothered to ask.”

_Okay, I really, really like him. He’s so sweet. I still think Nora would like him, too. And he’s cute. And patient. And he didn’t get upset when I accidently made drive his sled off a cliff. And—oh, wait. Conversation. Should probably start saying things out loud again._

“I feel happy,” Anna admitted directing her gaze to the snow-covered grass as they walked. Kristoff hummed quietly in encouragement. “And I know I shouldn’t, with everything that’s going on. I mean, I’m separated from Nora for the first time in her life. She’s probably terrified and alone, and that knowledge hurts my heart in a way I can’t really explain. Not to mention that Arendelle is stuck in an eternal winter, Elsa is hiding in the mountains because I yelled at her and accidently made her reveal the ice magic she has apparently had since birth but was somehow kept from me all my life despite the fact that we were actually really close until I was five and she suddenly wouldn’t so much as acknowledge my existence anymore. I don’t know what I’m going to say to her, and I am pretty certain that whatever I do say, she will ignore like she and our parents, and every other person in that miserable castle always have.”

When she looked up, Kristoff was staring at her with an unreadable expression. His hand slipped off of her shoulder, and she felt colder without it. “Did you say that the Queen just stopped interacting with you completely out of the blue? Thirteen years ago?”

Anna blinked at him in confusion. “Yeah. I’ve told you that before, Kristoff.”

Kristoff shook his head. “No. Or, maybe you did, and I just didn’t put it together. I can’t believe I didn’t realize what you were saying when you introduced yourself, but with everything going on, I just didn’t think about it. Didn’t think at all, more like…” he trailed off, muttering to himself. 

“Okay,” Anna said slowly. “What are you talking about, Kristoff? I mean, usually I’m the one trailing off into incoherent rambles. Don’t steal my thing!” she demanded jokingly, trying to ease whatever emotion had so suddenly taken over her friend.

“Anna, I know what happened. Why your sister suddenly pulled away from you. Or at least, I know part of it.”

Anna stared at him in shock. “You do?” she whispered brokenly. She came to a stop, and the sound of Olaf and Sven playing was overtaken by the ringing in her ears.

“I think so,” Kristoff said gently. “Not everything, like I said, but at least a little.” He stood in front of her, his expression apologetic.

“Will you tell me?” Anna asked. Her voice was flat, her heart dull and hopeless. _Of course, he won’t, nobody ever does, no matter how much you beg and plead. Haven’t you learned that by now?_

“Of course,” Kristoff said, and Anna stared at him in shock. “It has to do with you. You have every right to know.”

Anna couldn’t help it, she threw her arms around his waist and clung to him as tightly as Nora clung to her after a nightmare. She felt Kristoff hesitate for a moment before reciprocating the hug, his broad arms wrapping carefully around her shoulders. “Thank you,” Anna whispered, her voice breaking slightly.

He just held her as she calmed down, not asking what she was thanking him for. Olaf, on the other hand, was far less circumspect.

The little snowman waddled up to the two humans. “Anna! Anna!” As soon as he was in reach, he threw his stick arms around Anna’s legs and held tight. “What’s wrong, Anna? Why are you sad?”

The words were so much like Nora’s that Anna reacted without thinking. A bright—albeit fake— smile stole across her face, and she forced back the tears that her eyes wanted to release. “I’m not sad, Olaf,” she assured him in a bright voice. “I just needed a warm hug. And look at that, you gave me one!”

Thankfully, Olaf fell for the ruse as easily as Nora always did. His concerned expression was overtaken by a buck-toothed grin, and he bounced in place, overjoyed to have been of help. “I’m so glad, Anna. I don’t like people being sad, and I love giving warm hugs!”

Anna’s smile stayed firmly in place as she gently redirected the snowman’s attention to Sven. The look she got from the reindeer proved that he had not been convinced by her false cheer, but he was willing to go along with it to keep Olaf distracted. She nodded to him in thanks, and he returned it with one of his own before pulling Olaf into another game of chase.

Kristoff was still staring at her with that slightly guilty expression. “I didn’t mean to keep a secret like that from you, Anna. Really, I didn’t. I just… I guess I just didn’t really put all the details together until just now. It was so long ago, and so much happened that day.”

“Kristoff,” Anna interrupted gently, reaching out to lay her hand on his shoulder this time. “I’m not going to be mad. We’ve known each other for a day and a half. That doesn’t count as hiding something. Just tell me, please.” She couldn’t quite keep herself from begging. She had been pleading with everyone for answers for so long, and finally someone was going to give her some.

Kristoff nodded and took a breath before he started. “About thirteen years ago, the king and queen came to my family. Well, they weren’t really my family yet, but that’s beside the point. They brought their daughters, because the youngest had gotten hurt. Their older daughter had accidently struck her sister in the head with her ice magic.”

“Wait, what?” Anna yelped. “I don’t remember anything like that.”

“That’s because our elder changed your memories. He said it was necessary to fix the damage done by your sister’s magic. Please, don’t ask anymore about my family,” he said quickly, raising one hand to forestall questions that Anna was too overwhelmed to even begin to ask. “I don’t really know how to explain them. They are something you’ll have to see to believe.”

Anna just nodded slowly. “Do-do you know anything else?” she asked timidly.

Kristoff shook his head sadly. “No, my mother shooed me off after our elder changed your memories. She said his conversation with the royals was private.”

Anna nodded slowly. “I’m sorry,” Kristoff said, running a hand through his hair and knocking his hat off his head.

Anna picked up the hat and reached up on her tip toes to pull it back over his hair. “Don’t be sorry. I’m so grateful that you told me, Kristoff. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

Kristoff nodded, his face bright red.

It wasn’t long before they reached the foot of the mountain. Anna couldn’t help but gasp as she stared at the sheer steep rock in front of her. _Of course, this is where Elsa would go,_ she thought rather uncharitably. _Somewhere nobody can bother her. Must be a dream come true for her._

“So, what are you going to do when we find her?” Kristoff asked, warily studying the sharp icicles jutting out from the side of the mountain. Anna was pretty sure icicles didn’t form horizontally in nature, so it was proof that Elsa had passed this way.

“I’m going to talk to my sister,” she answered with a shrug. Really, what else could she do?

“Really?” Kristoff raised his brow, but his eyes were sympathetic. “That’s your entire plan? Talk to a woman who had spent thirteen years ignoring you?”

“What else can I do?” Anna replied, hoping desperately that Kristoff really would have a better idea. But he just shrugged.

“Don’t worry!” Olaf called, turning his head completely around to watch Anna and Kristoff as he walked. “I’m sure Elsa’s the nicest, gentlest, warmest person ever.” As he spoke, he walked right into one of the icicles, which pushed completely through his body. He glanced down at it in mild interest. “Oh, look at that. I’ve been impaled,” he giggled happily, smile never fading.

“Yeah, that’s not…” Anna trailed off, deciding not to bother correcting him. She turned back to Kristoff as they waited for Olaf to pull himself off the ice spike.

“I don’t know what to do, Kristoff,” she admitted. “She never listens to me but trying to force her won’t do anything. If you hadn’t noticed,” she continued dryly, “she’s a lot more powerful than me.”

Kristoff nodded, and remained silent as they worked their way to a part of the mountain that would be safer to climb.

Eventually, Kristoff stopped and shook his head. “It’s no good,” he said, offering Anna an apologetic glance. “I only have one rope, and you don’t know how to climb mountains.”

Anna shook her head. “No, you’re right. I can climb walls and trees, but there was a sad lack of mountains of castle grounds.”

Kristoff gave her an odd look. “You climb walls?”

She shrugged. “Not in a while, but when I was younger, I was determined to find a way to get over the castle walls. I dreamed of escaping and starting a life somewhere where people actually acknowledged me. I gave it up when Nora was born, though. There was no way I could support her on my own. At least in the castle was had food and clothes and a roof over our heads.”

Kristoff nodded, but before he could reply, Olaf’s voice rang out. “Hey, Kristoff! I don’t know if this solves our problem, but I found a staircase leading exactly where we want to go!”

Sven took off after the excitable snowman, and Anna and Kristoff exchanged a fondly exasperated look before following.

The ice staircase was utterly breathtaking. Anna had thought the crystallized drops where they found Olaf were beautiful, but that was nothing compared to the majesty of something Elsa had obviously made on purpose.

“Wow,” Kristoff breathed. “This is…amazing. It’s utterly flawless.” He trailed one gloved hand lightly over the sparkling surface of the bannister, the expression on his face reminiscent of Nora’s when they had found a littler of newborn kittens in the royal stables.

“Come on,” Anna prompted, certain that the ice harvester could stand there for hours if she didn’t keep him on track. He nodded absently, and she shook her head at him and started up the staircase.

Sven let out an excited snort and tried to follow, but his hooves couldn’t find purchase on the slippery ice. He bellowed in distress, unable to keep his legs under him. “Alright, alright,” Kristoff soothed him, hurrying forward and wrapping his arms around Sven’s chest. “I’ve got you buddy.”

Anna watched, admittedly impressed, as the large man managed to _lift_ the reindeer just enough to maneuver him off the staircase and back onto the snow. Olaf giggled from Anna’s side once he was sure Sven wasn’t hurt from his flailing. “Stay,” Kristoff ordered, and Sven plopped down into his haunches and panted in a way that reminded Anna more of a dog than a reindeer.

Anna turned and started up the mountain, secure in the knowledge that her friends were following behind her.

She was nervous and unsure, but she wasn’t alone. Not this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is an example of my characters deciding to do their own thing regardless of what I wanted. I was not expecting this conversation between Anna and Kristoff, but there it is.   
> Also, sorry for the slightly shorter chapter. I've been writing a final paper this week, so my time was more limited.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a confrontation, which does not go well for anyone involved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry that this chapter is late, but this was Finals Week for me. I did not have the time or brain power necessary to create anything worth posting last weekend. But in celebration of finishing the semester, here is an extra long chapter.

Anna’s gut churned with anxiety as she stood at the door of the giant ice palace that Elsa had created. She chewed her lip as she eyed the smooth surface, tilting her head slightly to keep the glare from the sun’s reflection out of her eyes. She took a deep lungful of air, feeling the chill emanating from the ice seep into her chest. She exhaled and watched as the cloud formed from her breath gathered and then dissipated.

She heard Kristoff’s footsteps as he came up behind her. She watched his reflection in the crystalline door as he stopped just behind her right shoulder. His concerned expression was only slightly distorted by the icy surface. “You okay?” he asked, apparently shaken out of his fixation on Elsa’s ice.

Anna shrugged. “Not really, but I kinda have to be, you know? I mean…” she trailed off for a moment as she tried to gather her thoughts in some kind of order that would make sense to herself, let alone Kristoff. “I don’t know how this is going to go. Actually, no,” she shook her head and fiddled mindlessly with one of her braids. “I do have a pretty strong suspicion about how this is going to go, and it isn’t good,” she admitted.

“You don’t think she’ll listen,” Kristoff stated more than queried.

Anna shook her head.

“Why wouldn’t she listen?” Olaf questioned, tilting his snowy head to the side in a way that once again reminded Anna so much of her little sister. “You tell great stories, Anna. Who wouldn’t want to listen to you?”

Anna chuckled, grateful for the small uplift to her spirits from the little snowman’s misunderstanding. “It’s not that simple, Olaf. Elsa has been ignoring me for most of our lives.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know,” Anna said with a slightly bitter laugh. “Every time I asked, she ignored me.”

“That’s mean,” Olaf said, his normally cheerful face twisted into a pout. It didn’t look right. Olaf was made for happiness, not annoyance.

“I’m sure she has her reasons,” Anna said tiredly, repeating the non-answer her own mother had given her regarding Elsa over and over until she had finally given up asking. She turned and lifted one hand to the door, but then she froze. Her fist hovered just in front of the entrance to Elsa’s newest sanctum, but she couldn’t seem to make herself take that final step.

_How many times have I stood like this in front of Elsa’s door? How many times did I steel myself up and knock, only to be told to go away or just straight-up ignored? Even after it became clear that I would never get I good response, how many years did I keep trying anyway?_

_Why am I even trying now? Nothing is going to change._

“Knock,” Olaf encouraged. “Go ahead, knock. Why isn’t she knocking? Do you think she knows how to knock?” he lowered his voice to a near whisper, clearly intending his questions for Kristoff’s ears only, but Anna was standing close enough to hear him easily. Kristoff shushed him.

_You can hear their voices,_ she thought desperately. _Even when Elsa ignores you, you won’t be alone. Kristoff and Olaf are here, and Sven is just at the bottom of the staircase. You are not alone in this._

With that, Anna screwed up all of the courage she could muster, and her fist connected with the door.

_Thud. Thud. Thud._ She didn’t bother with the special knock she had used all those years ago. At least without that, she could tell herself that she hadn’t gotten her hopes up. That it wouldn’t really hurt when the door didn’t—

The door opened.

Anna stared at it in shock, her mind going blank for a moment. “It opened,” her voice was hoarse with suppressed emotion. “That’s a first.”

Kristoff took her hand and squeezed it. She rested her head against his shoulder for a moment, desperately needing his reassurance before she had to face the undoubtedly painful reunion ahead of her. When she looked up, Kristoff was regarding her with solemn brown eyes.

“What do you need?” he asked simply.

She took a deep breath before releasing his hand and turning to the miraculously open— _it’s-really-open-I-can-hardly-believe-it-does-Elsa-know-it-just-did-that—_ door. “I need to go in alone.”

Kristoff looked unhappy, and Olaf looked slightly hurt.

Olaf was the one to speak. “Why? Don’t you want us to come?”

“Of course, I do,” Anna said truthfully. “You have no idea how much. But getting Elsa to listen to me is already going to be hard. Ganging up on her along with two people she’s never met really wouldn’t help.”

Kristoff nodded in understanding, but Olaf protested. “Elsa knows me! She made me, remember?”

Anna nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t think she meant to.”

Olaf frowned. “You mean she made me on accident?”

Anna shrugged, trying not to upset the childlike snowman. “I think she probably made you on purpose, but I don’t think she knows she made you alive,” she said delicately. “If she meant to do that, I think she would have been there to help you when you woke up, rather than leaving you alone to wander off and find us.”

Olaf nodded, but Anna wasn’t sure if he really understood or not. Still, he waddled over to the steps and sat down. He looked more contemplative than upset, so Anna decided to leave him to his thoughts.

She turned to Kristoff. He offered her a smile and laid his hand on her shoulder. “If you need a shoulder to lean on, just call,” he told her gently. “I’ll come. I promise.”

Anna smiled at him in return. “Thank you,” she said softly. He squeezed her shoulder again before removing his hand and going to sit beside Olaf on the steps.

Anna took in a deep breath, clenched her shaking fists inside her gloves, and walked inside.

Elsa was startled by the sound of the door of her ice palace creaking open. She froze, listening closely, but she didn’t hear anything else. No footsteps, no voices, not even the wind echoing inside the cavernous icy entry hall. She inched her way slowly out of the door of her room and peered down the stairs, careful to stay out of sight should anyone walk in.

The door was open only a crack, and nobody seemed to be behind it. She exhaled a sigh of relief, deciding that the wind must have somehow pushed it open. But the following breath stuck in her throat as the door was slowly pushed the rest of the way open, and someone did enter.

It was Anna.

Elsa’s eyes widened at the sight of her younger sister. Anna looked almost as nervous as Elsa felt as she twirled her left braid around her hand. She looked around the ice palace, and Elsa felt a sense of warmth when Anna’s uneasy expression turned to one of awe.

“ _Wow,”_ Anna breathed, oblivious to her older sister’s presence. She slipped a little but managed to catch herself before she fell, and Elsa thought the startled expression on her baby sister’s face was hilarious. She stifled a laugh.

“Elsa?” Anna’s voice startled her out of her moment of mirth. “Are you here?”

Elsa swallowed. She was out of sight, but it wouldn’t take Anna long to find her if she started looking. Talking to her sister was inevitable, Elsa realized.

Elsa took a deep breath and stepped out of her hiding spot. “Anna.”

Anna twirled around and craned her neck to look up at Elsa as she descended halfway down the elaborate ice staircase. Anna’s eyes widened as they met Elsa’s. “Elsa?” she said breathlessly. “You-you look different. I mean good- a good different. And this place…” she trailed off looking around Elsa’s greatest creation with the same expression of wonder she’d aimed at Elsa’s creations when they were children. “It’s amazing.”

“Thank you,” Elsa said shyly. “I never knew what I was capable of.”

Anna remained in place as she watched Elsa slowly join her on the lower level. She regarded Elsa with a patient expression, clearly waiting for something. At a loss as to what her younger sister was expecting, Elsa returned the stare.

Anna didn’t react. She simply stared placidly into Elsa’s eyes, her expression calm but unreadable.

Elsa started to feel uncomfortable, unable to reconcile the excitable, impatient little sister from her memory with the calm young woman regarding her with as much aplomb as a trained politician.

“Are you okay?” Anna’s surprisingly warm voice asked suddenly enough to make Elsa jolt in surprise. The indecipherable expression in those blue eyes had been replace by concern. She looked Elsa over in a way that reminded her vividly of their late mother. “I was worried that you would get yourself hurt, running off into the mountains alone like that. You may have ice magic, but the cold is far from the only danger out here.”

“Oh,” Elsa ducked her head sheepishly, not having realized that particular potential consequence of her panicked flight. Anna was right, she was lucky she hadn’t walked off a cliff or been attacked by wolves on her way up here. “I’m fine, Anna. You didn’t need to worry about me.” Elsa frowned as a sudden realization struck her. “How did you get up here?” she asked. Anna was in danger from all of those things too, plus the possibility of dying of cold.

“I took the stairs,” Anna replied with a careless shrug.

“That wasn’t…” Elsa trailed off, unsure of how to communicate to Anna that she had meant how had she gotten up the mountain as a whole, not just into her ice palace.

“I’m sorry, by the way,” Anna said before Elsa could get her thoughts together. “For yelling at you before.” Anna shook her head ruefully and looked Elsa straight in the eye. “I should’ve realized that knocking Nora down was an accident. I shouldn’t have assumed the worst of you, especially after you defended me against Prince Handsy.”

Elsa blinked at the sudden shift in topic, then hunched her shoulders guiltily. In all the excitement with finally letting go and using her powers, she had almost forgotten what had caused her secret to be let out in the first place. “It’s okay,” she assured Anna quickly. “I understand. You were already on edge, and I let my fear get the best of me and accidently hurt Nora.”

“You didn’t hurt her,” Anna assured quickly. “You startled her, sure, but she was fine. No injuries at all.”

“She was crying,” Elsa protested.

Anna raised a brow at her. “Yeah. She does that. She’s a little kid. She cries when she’s hurt, she cries when she’s scared, she cries when I make her eat her vegetables before she can have dessert. Heck, when the people first started coming in to prepare the castle for the Coronation, she cried every time she saw them for over a week. She doesn’t really do well with strangers.”

Elsa sighed, relieved that she really hadn’t hurt her youngest sister. Considering how protective Anna was of the smallest princess, Elsa doubted Anna would play down any injury done to her just to spare Elsa’s feelings. That was reassuring at least. “I’m glad she wasn’t hurt, but you should probably go,” Elsa said, steeling her resolve. It wasn’t safe for Anna to be near her, she needed to go back home to Nora.

Anna sighed, like Elsa had done something she had expected but was hoping against. “I just got here, Elsa,” she said, and Elsa’s heart hurt at the tired tone in her sister’s voice. A tone she was all too familiar with.

_Can’t I do anything without hurting her?_ Elsa thought miserably.

“You should really go back, Anna,” Elsa said resolutely. “Enjoy the sun, open the gates, introduce Nora to the outside world. I’ll be here, where I can be myself without hurting anybody.”

Anna looked at Elsa sternly, which startled the older girl more than she wanted to admit. “You have to come back too, Elsa. You’re the Queen in case you forgot. That is sort of the reason we had that headache of a party that triggered this whole mess.”

Elsa shook her head quickly. “No, I can’t be the queen. You heard the Duke of Weselton. I’m a witch, not a ruler.”

Anna raised a brow, looking distinctly unimpressed. Elsa was finding herself more and more wrongfooted as the conversation went on. She wasn’t sure how to handle this version of her little sister.

“What exactly do you expect to happen, Elsa?” Anna questioned in a level tone. “You run away, leave the kingdom without a leader, what then?”

“They won’t be without a leader,” Elsa protested. “They’ll have you.”

“And there we have it,” Anna sighed, sounding so tired that it made Elsa’s heart hurt. “You don’t want to be queen, so you are dumping it in my lap and walking away.” Sharp blue eyes bore into Elsa’s, filled with censure.

“That’s not…” Elsa trailed off, realizing that that was pretty much exactly what she was doing.

When Anna spoke again, her voice was as cold as any of Elsa’s ice and filled with anger. “I am so _tired_ of everyone dropping their responsibilities on my shoulders and expecting me to carry them. First Mother and Father left me to raise myself, and then they had Nora and expected me to care for her, too. At least it was just during the day at first, but then they died and suddenly I was raising her on my own.”

Anna shook her head and slumped against an icy pillar, unheeding of the cold that was no doubt seeping through the thick material of her winter dress. She looked for all the world like she simply did not have the strength to keep herself upright on her own anymore.

“I love Nora, I really do,” Anna said tiredly. “But do you have _any idea_ how hard it is to raise a toddler when you’re still just a child yourself? I had to give up nearly everything that I enjoyed doing those first few years. I had to learn to sit quietly through naps and bedtimes when the only way she would sleep was laying on my chest. I had to learn to cook, because Gerda didn’t have time to make more than one thing per meal, and Nora wouldn’t touch the royal fare you like. I learned to make up games, make toys, and tell stories.”

Anna shook her head before her eyes darted up and met Elsa’s once again. She took a step closer, and Elsa couldn’t move away from her. She felt pinned underneath that gaze as her sister regarded her, every bit as stern and commanding as their mother’s had been when scolding them after a particularly bad misdeed all those years ago.

“I never minded any of that, of course,” Anna continued. “Nora is by far the best thing that ever happened to me. All it took was a single hug or ‘I love you,’ and I was the happiest person you would ever meet. Because with Nora there, I wasn’t alone anymore. I had someone who loved me, who wanted me around rather than constantly sending me away.”

Elsa felt anger rise in her chest, and she welcomed it. Anger was much more pleasant to feel than guilt. “If you didn’t mind, then what’s the point?” she demanded. “You get to be a sister as well as being Queen. What is so bad about that?”

Instead of echoing Elsa’s anger, Anna met it calmly. “You’re not listing, Elsa. Being the queen is your responsibility, no matter how unready you feel. Just like being Nora’s mother became my responsibility when I was the only one willing to take it.”

“You’re hardly a mother, Anna,” Elsa disagreed. “Gerda and Kai are there to handle most of it. Don’t be dramatic.”

Anna shook her head. “Gerda and Kai are too busy keeping the castle going and helping you to take on many of my responsibilities.” Her voice was still completely calm, and it was irrationally making Elsa upset.

“You are just looking for attention, Anna,” Elsa retorted.

“For a long time, I was, yeah,” Anna agreed. “But I gave up on that a long time ago. Now I just want to live.”

“Then go live!” Elsa insisted. “That’s all I want for you, too.”

“Elsa—”

“No!” Elsa cut her sister off before taking a deep breath. “You need to leave now, Anna. I mean it.”

“Elsa, if you would just listen to me—”

“No, you listen, it’s not safe—”

“ELSA OF ARENDELLE YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME RIGHT NOW!!”

Elsa froze, shocked by her sister’s suddenly raised voice. The tone wasn’t even angry, just frustrated and stern. She stared blankly at Anna, who nodded resolutely before speaking again, her voice once again measured and calm. “You need to sit down right now, young lady.”

“Young lady?” Elsa repeated, still startled by Anna’s demeanor. “Anna, I’m older than you.”

“Well, you certainly aren’t acting like it,” Anna retorted. “If you are going to act like an obstinate toddler, then I will treat you like one.”

Anna strode up to Elsa, apparently having given up on diplomacy. “Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for you, toddlers are about the only kind of people I actually do have experience in dealing with. Now _sit down,_ Elsa.”

Anna had one eyebrow raised in a way that was making Elsa distinctly uneasy, and she looked around herself more from an unwillingness to look straight at her sister than actually trying to find anything.

“Where am I supposed to sit?” she questioned, her voice coming out significantly meeker than it had been previously.

Anna gave her a look like she was being purposely obtuse and looked around meaningfully. “You made this whole palace, Elsa. I’m sure you can manage a chair.”

Still cowed, Elsa obediently created a chair. While she had been intending it to resemble the chair at her desk in her bedroom, the end result was closer to a larger version of the time-out chair their mother had utilized before the accident.

And judging by the amusement in Anna’s eyes, she had noticed that little detail as well.

Elsa sat down in the ice chair— _NOT a time-out chair, no matter how oddly authoritarian Anna looks right now—_ and looked up at her not-so-little little sister. “Are you ready to discuss things calmly now?” Anna questioned. When she saw Elsa’s expression, she shook her head and muttered something Elsa couldn’t make out.

Anna turned to the door and called, “Kristoff, I could really use that shoulder you offered!”

Elsa blinked at Anna in confusion. “Who are you—”

She broke off as the door was pushed open and two figures entered. The taller figure turned out to be a young man, probably around her own age. The shorter one was—

_Wait, is that the snowman I made yesterday? Walking?_

“Olaf,” Anna said in a gently chiding tone, “I asked Kristoff to come in, not you.”

“But Anna,” the snowman—Olaf, and didn’t _that_ bring back memories, both good and bad—whined. “I didn’t want to stay out there by myself.”

Anna shook her head fondly before turning back to the man. “Thanks,” she said with a smile.

Kristoff smiled back. “I told you I’d come if you called.”

He turned and bit his lip to hold back a laugh when he caught sight of Elsa. “I take it she reacted pretty much how you expected her to?”

“Yep,” Anna replied ruefully. “She wouldn’t listen, so I kinda reacted on instinct.”

“And your instincts are primed for dealing with a misbehaving Nora, not a stubborn queen,” Kristoff summarized.

Anna nodded.

The snowman toddled up in front of Elsa and smiled. “Hi! I’m Olaf, and I like warm hugs.”

“Hello,” Elsa replied uneasily. Between her sister’s actions and her apparently living snow creation, she was having a very bizarre few minutes.

“You built me,” Olaf said, wringing his stick hands together and rocking back on his stubby legs. “Do you remember that?”

Elsa nodded, unsure of how else to react. Olaf appeared happy with that answer, as he smiled brightly as her. “Why’re you sitting there?” he asked.

Anna answered before Elsa could get over the oddness of her snowman talking to her. “Remember when I told you that Elsa is bad at listening?”

Olaf nodded. Elsa felt vaguely insulted.

“Well, she was doing that again. So, I got her to sit down so she could calm down and talk about things instead of just telling me to go away without hearing what I had to say.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Olaf said cheerfully. He turned to Elsa, still sitting in her ice chair, and wagged a little stick finger at her. “That’s really mean, you know. You should listen to Anna, she knows a lot, and she tells great stories.”

Elsa was utterly bewildered by this point. She decided to stay silent.

Kristoff chose that moment to speak up. “Come on, Olaf. We’re here to support Anna, not scold the Queen.”

_Oh, so he does know who I am. I’m guessing he’s the reason Anna managed to get here from the palace in one piece._

“Okay!” Olaf said brightly and trotted up to the man. Kristoff shrugged apologetically at Anna, who smiled and shook her head.

“Now,” Anna said, turning to her older sister. “Are you ready to actually talk like adults instead of treating me like I’m too stupid to understand anything?”

Elsa frowned. “I don’t think you’re stupid, Anna,” she protested.

Anna huffed in annoyance. “You might not do it on purpose, but you’ve treated me like it since I was five years old, just like every other person in that miserable castle. Now stop dodging the question. Are you ready to talk _to_ me instead of _at_ me?”

Elsa ducked her head before nodding. If nothing else, the sooner she let Anna say her piece, the sooner she would leave.

“Thank you,” Anna said calmly. “Now, what is your plan? How are you going to live your life if you don’t come back to Arendelle?”

“I would live here.” Elsa replied. “I can’t hurt anyone if there is no-one around. And since there is always snow at the top of the mountains, nobody is likely to notice me.”

Anna nodded, waiting patiently for Elsa to continue. When she didn’t, Anna raised a brow at Kristoff, who looked equally unimpressed. “That’s all?”

“What else is there?” Elsa frowned.

“Do you know how to hunt? Or how to butcher your kills and tan the pelts?” Anna asked.

Elsa shook her head.

“Do you know how to find berries and roots? And how to tell which ones aren’t poisonous?”

Again, Elsa shook her head.

“Then how are you going to eat?”

That question brought Elsa up short.

“You have shelter, sure,” Anna said. “But it takes more than that to survive. You need to know how to find food and water, how to make clothes. Or at least, how to earn money so that you can buy food and clothes. Which you can’t do if you live in an ice palace in the mountains and never interact with other people.”

Elsa did not have a response for that.

“You didn’t think of any of that, did you?” Anna asked, sounding exasperated.

Elsa didn’t want to admit it, but no. She hadn’t.

“And you need to bring back summer, too! Don’t forget about that!” Olaf chimed in.

“Olaf, hush,” Kristoff hissed, but it was too late.

“What do you mean bring back summer?” Elsa demanded. “It’s summer right now.”

“It’s supposed to be,” Olaf agreed, oblivious to Anna and Kristoff’s frantic attempts to quiet him. “But your magic made it winter instead.”

Elsa stood up and whirled around to face Anna. “What happened?”

Anna sighed. “That was the main thing I needed to talk to you about. I was hoping to do it more gently, though.” At Elsa’s impatient expression, she sighed and explained. “You kind of set off an eternal winter…everywhere.”

Elsa felt like her heart dropped clear out of her chest. “Everywhere?” she repeated hoarsely.

“It’s okay, Elsa,” Anna tried to soothe her. “It wasn’t on purpose, we know that. You just need to keep calm and we can figure out how to unfreeze it.”

“I can’t! I don’t know how!” Elsa was really starting to panic now. She could feel her magic roiling inside of her. Her _stupid_ curse that had ruined her entire life, and now it was in real danger of doing the same to everyone in Arendelle.

“You can do it, Elsa,” Anna encouraged, but Elsa was too far gone to hear her. “I know you can. You just need to calm down and breathe. Getting upset isn’t going to help anything.”

“I’m such a fool,” Elsa lamented, oblivious to her sister’s words. “I can’t be free. No escape from this storm inside of me.”

“Elsa, please, calm down!” Anna begged.

Elsa shook her head. “Please, Anna! Just go! I can’t control the curse!”

“It’s not a curse,” Anna replied. “It’s a part of you. Nothing is going to change until you can accept that!”

“Anna,” Kristoff warned, hurrying over. He grabbed Anna’s shoulder and pulled her a few feet away from her sister. “Nothing is going to get through to her right now. She’s too afraid.”

Heartbroken, Anna nodded.

“You need to accept it, Elsa!” Anna called out desperately as she allowed her friend to lead her toward the door.

“I CAN’T!!” Elsa cried. Elsa’s despair, having finally built up too much pressure to be denied, caused her magic to explode out of her in a visible wave of ice magic. It burst out in a circle with herself as the unwilling center.

Some of the energy collided with Anna and Kristoff, who both clutched their chests and doubled over in pain.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna and Kristoff realize that they have gained yet another problem, and Kristoff takes Anna to meet his mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy May! I hope everyone is doing well even with the chaos that is the world right now.

Anna gasped as she clutched her chest. The deep, icy ache was like nothing she had ever felt before. It reminded her more of the pain from a burn than anything that could possibly be caused by ice. The feeling overwhelmed her for an unknowable amount of time, wiping out any and all other sensations as each beat of her heart seemed to further exacerbate whatever damage her sister’s wild magic had inflicted.

Gradually, the feeling retreated. After a few eternal moments, the all-consuming pain had dulled into a merely uncomfortable sensation of cold centered in her heart, like she was holding a snowball to her chest. Mildly unpleasant, but not difficult to tune out.

Anna took in a deep breath and opened her eyes. She was leaning heavily against Kristoff’s equally unsteady form. He had one arm wrapped around her shoulders, which was trembling enough for her to feel it against her back. The pain had seemed to last for ages, but one look at Elsa’s shuddering, oblivious form told her that it had only been moments.

Anna tried to stand up but couldn’t hold back a small sound of pain as she slumped right back against Kristoff, who shifted his arm around her for a better grip and tried to keep both of them from hitting the ground, most of his weight supported by his other arm braced against the frozen floor.

Apparently hearing Anna’s groan, Elsa spun around and gasped at the sight of her sister and the ice harvester on their knees, barely keeping each other from falling completely to the icy ground. “Anna?” she asked worriedly.

“Are you guys okay?” Olaf asked, peering at them worriedly from beside Elsa.

“I’m okay,” Anna said breathlessly. She took a deep breath and was relieved when the pain did not return. She turned to Kristoff, who offered her a shaky smile.

“I’m fine, too.” He pushed himself to his feet, gently pulling Anna up as well. She leaned against his shoulder for a moment before daring to attempt standing on her own. Thankfully, her legs held.

Olaf toddled over to them and wrapped his stick arms around Anna’s legs before whirling around and doing the same to Kristoff. “We’re alright, Olaf,” the ice harvester said softly, reaching down and laying a gentle hand on top of the snowman’s head.

“You need to go!” Elsa insisted, apparently over her shock. Anna turned toward Kristoff and rolled her eyes. The man shrugged sympathetically.

“You need to face yourself, Elsa,” Anna said, but there was no real hope in her voice. She knew reasoning with her sister was futile at this point. Elsa was too wrapped up in her own negative emotions to listen. She just hoped that her words would register later on, when Elsa was alone and calmer.

“GO!” Elsa’s magic churned around her in a visible cloud. Anna flinched instinctively, but it did not lash out like it had earlier. It swirled in a small cyclone, growing bigger and bigger until it started to form a shape. The magic then dissipated, revealing another snowman.

This new creation was nothing like Olaf. Instead of small and cheerful, it was large and intimidating. It blinked its dark eyes before focusing on the two humans and one snow being in front of it.

“Hello!” Olaf called cheerily, completely unaware of the tension that was gripping his friends. He tried to step forward, but Anna instinctively put a restraining hand on his head, stopping him from approaching the new snowman. Olaf eyed her curiously but stayed obediently by her side. “I’m Olaf, and I like warm hugs. Do you want a warm hug?” he asked with wide guileless eyes as he stretched out his little arms, as if he could gather his new “brother” within them.

The new much larger snowman did not, in fact, want a warm hug. Elsa must have created him with a goal in mind because she did not have to say a word. Needing only one long stride, the gigantic snowman moved forward and snatched all three people—two humans and one magical snow creation—in his hands, Kristoff in one and Anna and Olaf in the other and carried them to the door. He then tossed them out into the snow, much like Oaken had done to Kristoff before.

Anna spit snow out of her mouth. Panic built in her chest when she realized that she was completely submerged in the powdery substance. She thrashed her head and squirmed desperately, unsure which direction was up and unable to take in a breath with the snow blocking her mouth and nose. The fear used up the air she had much quicker, and her lungs began to burn. She opened her mouth to call out and it was immediately filled with snow.

_Helphelphelp, can’tbreathecan’tbreathehelp…_

Hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her out of the snowbank. Anna dragged in a desperate breath. The cold air burned in her lungs and made her cough painfully, but she took the discomfort gratefully because _she could breathe again._

A large hand rubbed her back soothingly and then there was an arm around her shoulders, keeping her upright even as the coughing fit had her doubled over. Anna leaned gratefully into Kristoff’s side. He waited until her body had stopped trying to evict her lungs before he spoke. “Are you alright?”

Anna, not feeling quite ready to speak, just nodded shakily. She tried to pat Kristoff’s shoulder reassuringly, missed, and decided to focus on calming herself before trying to comfort anybody else.

“Anna! Are you okay? Kristoff, is she okay?” Olaf’s voice sounded frantic. Anna looked toward him and was met by the odd sight of the little snowman lifting his head up off his shoulders and holding it as high as he could manage so that he could see Anna eye to eye. She offered him a small smile but was relieved when Kristoff answered for her.

“She’s fine, Olaf. She just got buried in a snowbank when that big snowman threw us. The snow made it hard for her to breathe, and it scared her.”

Olaf pouted—although Anna suspected it was meant to be a glare—and plopped his head back onto its usual place and shook his fist in the direction of the once again closed doors of the ice palace. “It’s not nice to throw people, Marshmallow!” he yelled.

Anna chuckled faintly as her breathing finally started to return to normal. “I’m fine, Olaf. Really.” Appeased, Olaf wandered off to look at whatever had caught his eyes this time.

“Are you really alright?” Kristoff asked quietly as he brushed a clump of snow out of her hair.

“Yeah,” Anna said, offering him a small smile. “That was a really scary few moments, but I’m okay now that I have my breath back. Thanks for pulling me out.”

Kristoff raised his brow. “You’re welcome, but you know that wasn’t what I meant.”

Anna sighed. She took a few steps away from Kristoff and stared out at the sheer cliff that was apparently Elsa’s new front yard. _Well, she does have good taste. It’s a really nice view._

Anna shook her head to banish the errant thought. Kristoff had proven that he would answer her questions honestly, so he deserved the same from her.

“I’m disappointed, but not that much,” Anna admitted. “Mostly I’m just resigned. Considering that went almost exactly how I expected, minus the giant snowman and nearly getting suffocated in a snow drift. Elsa has never been very good at listening. Especially to me.”

Anna was still facing away from Kristoff, but she heard him give soft hum to let her know he was listening.

“I don’t know what to do now,” she admitted. “I didn’t expect plan A to work, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t seem to come up with a decent plan B.” She sighed, the exhaustion from the last few days making her shoulders slump and her arms wrap around herself in a self-soothing gesture. “Why does everything I do just make things worse?”

Anna heard the sound of snow crunching beneath Kristoff’s boots as he approached her, but she didn’t look away from the horizon. He stopped just behind her and sighed. She felt his breath ruffle the hair that had escaped from her braids. “You didn’t make things worse,” Kristoff said softly. When Anna didn’t reply, he reached out to grasp her shoulder and tugged gently. She obligingly turned around, but she directed her gaze downward, focusing on the sparkles created from sunlight hitting the snow around her boots.

“You really didn’t,” Kristoff said gently. “From what you’ve told me, and what I remember from that night your parents came to my family for help, things have been messed up since you and the queen were little. And the cause was purposely kept from you. You’re trying to fix things, but that’s hard to do when you don’t have the facts.”

Anna sighed and shook her head. She looked up at her friend, ready to continue the argument, but paused when she saw the way he was frowning at her.

“What?” she asked, tilting her head in question.

In reply, he reached out, stopping just short of touching her head. “Your hair…”

“What? I just got thrown into a snowdrift by a giant snowman!” she protested. “You should see your hair!”

“No, I mean your hair is turning white,” he explained.

Anna’s eyes widened and she grabbed one of her braids to study. Sure enough, the usual white stipe and grown, changing from a thin streak to a very noticeable section. Anna’s gaze shot up to Kristoff, who was looking at her in concern. She frowned and studied him right back. Her eyes narrowed, and she abruptly snatched the hat off of his head. “So is yours,” she breathed.

It was true. It was not immediately obvious within his already light-colored hair, but part of it had turned from blond to white. Kristoff’s hand shot up in a similar gesture to Anna’s, but his hair was too short for him to see, so he mostly just ended up smacking himself in the face.

“It’s because she struck us, isn’t it?” Kristoff asked seriously. Anna just nodded, chewing her lip anxiously.

“I’m sorry, Kristoff,” she whispered, feeling incredibly guilty for dragging him in to her mess.

“What?” Kristoff asked, looking honestly confused by her apology. “Why?”

“I didn’t expect something like this to happen. And now we’re both in trouble because of it.”

“I don’t blame you, Anna,” Kristoff reassured her. His eyes were wide and sincere. He didn’t hesitate this time as he laid a gentle arm around her shoulders. “I don’t even blame the queen. It was pretty obvious she wasn’t in control.”

Anna smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Kristoff. But that doesn’t solve our problem. What are we going to do?”

To Anna’s surprise, Kristoff just smiled at her. “I know where we can go,” he said. His voice was playful, and she couldn’t help but tilt her head curiously at him. His smile widened. “Remember what I told you before? About when your parents came to mine for help?”

Anna gasped in realization, and Kristoff laughed.

“So, Anna. What do you say to meeting my family?”

Kristoff winced as a shiver ran down his spine, making him instinctively pull Anna closer. Of course, she couldn’t get much nearer considering he was holding her around the waist while they both rode on Sven’s back. Anna didn’t protest, which was probably at least in part because she was just as uncomfortably cold as he was.

Well, maybe not quite as uncomfortable. He was the one with a snowman clinging to his back after all.

They hadn’t ridden Sven the whole way. Without the sled it would be pretty unfair to expect his buddy to carry three people on his own. Well, two people and a living snowman.

_Why has my life gotten to the point where that isn’t even strange to think anymore?_

They had alternated riding on Sven and walking when Anna’s breathing got too labored. Kristoff didn’t know if she had gotten a larger hit of the Queen’s magic or if it was because she was so much smaller then him, but Anna seemed to be feeling the effects of the ice strike more severely than he was. It was worrying him.

“It’s time to walk again, isn’t it?” Anna asked as Sven came to a stop.

“Yeah,” Kristoff said apologetically. Anna just smiled at him as he slid off Sven’s back and then gently lifted Anna down as well.

Olaf peered at them from atop the reindeer’s haunches. “Can I keep riding?”

Kristoff looked at Sven. Sven nodded and snorted easily.

“Sure, Olaf,” he said in his ‘Sven’ voice. “You barely weigh anything.”

Anna giggled at him and he turned his head away to hide his blush. “Thanks, Sven!” Olaf called cheerfully. He plopped down on his back to admire the sky, one hand tracing patterns in the air.

Anna smiled fondly at the little snowman, and Kristoff let out a chuckle. “Come on,” he said. “It’s not too much farther.”

Anna was clearly trying to look brave, but Kristoff could see the relief in her eyes when she heard that.

“Really?” she asked.

Kristoff nodded. “Yeah. It should be just a few more minutes.” Without thinking, he took her hand as he started walking. When he realized what he had done, he panicked a bit. Sure, he had taken her hand before, but that was when she was upset, and he was trying to comfort her. She was perfectly calm right now, if a little cold and tired. What if she—

Anna returned his grip and smiled at him. His heart sped up as even as his panic disappeared. His face felt unusually warm considering the cold wind.

Hand in hand, the ice harvester and the princess walked through the snow. It was silent for a time, Anna admiring the landscape as they approached the Valley of the Living Rock and the snow gave way to green grass and Kristoff marveling at the fact that he had another human he was comfortable enough around to take her hand without even thinking about it.

The silence was broken by a certain snow being. “Look, Sven,” Olaf said from his position reclining on the reindeer’s back. “The sky is awake.”

Anna laughed softly, glancing up at aurora that was dancing through the sky. “That’s what Nora always says,” she told Kristoff softly. “She hates sleeping when the Northern Lights are shining. Says it’s too pretty to sleep through.” She was silent for a moment. “I used to say it, too,” she continued, her voice soft with an undercurrent of pain. “I used to drag Elsa out of bed to play with me. She would act annoyed and tell me to go back to sleep, but she would always give in in the end and play with me until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.”

The longing in Anna’s voice reminded Kristoff of the rare occasions when he thought about his birth parents. He barely remembered them, being little more than a toddler when they died. But in the time before the trolls, he had sometimes drudged up every dim recollection of warm hugs and gentle smiles and felt his chest ache with a longing so deep that he had been forced to push them away to soothe the pain. Those times had gotten fewer and fewer after being taken in by Bulda and Cliff, just as Anna had said her own pain had improved after Nora’s birth.

But just because the pain was easier to ignore did not mean that it was not still there. Kristoff knew that very well.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he saw Anna shiver and wrap her arms around herself. “You cold?” he asked softly.

She nodded. “Just a little,” she claimed softly.

Kristoff glanced around before catching sight of one of the thermal vents that he had used to keep warm countless times. He traded his grip on her hand for an arm around her shoulders. “Come here.” He led her to the vent, and he heard her sigh in relief as she felt the warm steam coming up. “Better?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” She smiled at him. Kristoff heard Olaf jump off of Sven’s back and start running around, exclaiming in awe over all the things he had never seen before. And considering he was only about two days old, that was a lot of things.

“So, about my family,” Kristoff began, aware that it was time to actually give Anna some idea of what she was about to walk into. He once again took Anna’s hand, this time consciously deciding to. Once again, she accepted it easily and walked with him. “You see, when I was a kid, it was just me and Sven. Until they, you know, kind of took us in.”

“They did?” Anna smiled as he led her toward the clearing where the trolls usually slept. The open admiration in her expression made him beam, certain that she would accept his family without thinking him too strange.

_Well, she accepted the talking snowman pretty easily. I doubt trolls will be enough to push her over the edge._

“Yeah,” Kristoff said, keeping an eye out for his family as they got closer to his home. “I don’t want to scare you. They can be a little inappropriate. And,” he sighed, “loud,” he huffed a laugh. “Very loud. They’re also stubborn at times, and a little overbearing. And heavy.” Kristoff winced at the memories of tackle hugs and bruises. He pressed the hand not holding Anna’s to his chest, remembering one time in particular that a young troll had tackled him and actually managed to crack two of his ribs. Bulda hadn’t let him out of bed for days as she’d constantly applied salves to decrease the pain. “Really, really _heavy._ Which, you know—fine. It’s fine. You’ll get it. They mean well—”

“Kristoff,” Anna interrupted. She looked up at him earnestly. “They sound wonderful.”

He smiled back, shoulders slumping. They had arrived, and there was really no point in putting it off any longer. “Okay then.” He pulled her gently into the circle of trolls. “Meet my family.” He made a sweeping gesture with the hand that wasn’t holding hers to indicate the trolls curled up all around them.

“They’re…rocks.” Anna’s voice was confused and hesitant. She looked up at Kristoff, clearly waiting for him to explain the joke.

“He’s _crazy_ ,” Olaf said in what was probably meant to be a whisper. Kristoff rolled his eyes.

“Kristoff,” Anna said uncertainly. “I think I’m missing something here. What’s going on?”

“Well—”

Kristoff was cut off by the familiar sound of rumbling rock, meaning that the trolls were waking up. They all started to roll around the clearing, gathering around Kristoff and Anna. He felt Anna press closer to him nervously, and he squeezed her hand in reassurance. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “They’re just waking up.”

Just as he finished talking, the trolls jumped up, releasing their rock disguises. Predictably, Bulda was right in front of him, a bright smile on her face.

“Kristoff’s home!” his mother cheered.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grand Pabbie is much more straight forward when there is a member of his own family is at risk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. This is late, it is a little short, and I do not think it is really all that great. I don't know why, but this chapter kicked my butt to write. I just could not seem to get it to a point that I was happy with it, but oh well. Here it is. Enjoy!

Kristoff could pinpoint the exact moment that Bulda registered Anna’s presence. Her eyes widened briefly, then darted to Kristoff and Anna’s still clasped hands. A wide grin crossed her face, and Kristoff almost groaned when he realized just how awkward the next few minutes were going to be for him and Anna. His mother was nothing if not excitable, and she had been bugging him to “find a nice girl” ever since he came of age.

“Kristoff brought a girl!” Bulda yelled in excitement, and the rest of the trolls quickly echoed her shout.

Anna squeaked and hid her face in Kristoff’s shoulder. “That won’t save you,” Kristoff murmured softly enough that he was certain his family wouldn’t be able to hear him over their own shouts. “I warned you they were loud.”

She offered him a slightly weak smile, which was frankly more than he expected.

Kristoff let out a yelp as Anna’s hand was suddenly yanked out of his. He felt a moment of panic before realizing that she had not been the one to wrench it away, but Bulda who had snatched her.

“Ma!” Kristoff called. “She’s already had a hard day, please don’t scare her!”

He knew it was futile, but he had to at least try. Anna was pretty excitable, and on a normal day he thought that she would probably fit in with his odd, exuberant family pretty well. But after discovering a dark family secret, having her sister run away, then being attacked by wolves, climbing a mountain, and facing what Kristoff understood to be very painful memories in a desperate attempt to reach out to said older sister only to be rejected once again, anybody would be at the end of their rope.

Bulda didn’t react to his pleas. She stood on top of Cliff to be at eye level with the young princess and studied her closely. Anna flinched away from the hand as it approached her face. “Please don’t touch me, ma’am,” Anna said nervously. “I don’t mind talking, but I don’t like to be grabbed.”

Bulda quickly pulled back, and Kristoff saw her eyes soften. Just like earlier, he could tell the exact moment she went from excited to motherly. “Of course, dear,” she soothed. “I’m sorry if I got ahead of myself in my delight for my dear Kristoff finally bringing someone to meet us.”

Anna offered a smile back, and this time it looked much more sincere. “It’s alright, I understand getting excited and reaching out on instinct. I just had a bad experience with someone touching me without permission and refusing to let go when I asked.”

Bulda scowled at Anna’s mention of “Prince Handsy,” as she called him. “Well,” the motherly troll said in a tone that had Kristoff reflexively taking a step back. She gave him a look that made him extremely nervous, even knowing that he had not done anything wrong. “I hope that my Kristoff had nothing to do with that. Because I know I taught him better.”

The trolls might be a boisterous lot, but they had been sure to teach Kristoff basic manners. He had no doubt that his mother would correct him ardently if she ever heard tell of him laying a forceful hand on a woman.

“Oh, no,” Anna said quickly. Kristoff breathed a sigh of relief when Bulda nodded and her stern look softened back into a smile. “Kristoff had nothing to do with it. In fact, he’s done nothing but help me since we met.”

Bulda nodded approvingly at Kristoff, who smiled back. “That’s my baby boy. Sweet as can be.”

Anna giggled. Kristoff blushed. Bulda beamed.

A sudden rush of the unfortunately now familiar burning cold reminded him of why he had come home right then. He saw Anna shudder as well. “Listen,” Kristoff broke in, desperate to get things back on track. “Where is Grand Pabbie?”

“He’s still napping,” Sandy informed him. The little troll was bouncing in place with a bright grin. “But look, I grew a mushroom!” She turned to show off her accomplishment clinging to her back.

“I earned my fire crystal,” Geode added, waving the mentioned award in his hand.

“I passed a kidney stone,” Uncle Grit added. Kristoff very carefully did not look at what he was holding up.

“Kristoff, pick me up!” Dusty demanded. The little troll launched himself at Kristoff. Only years of experience allowed Kristoff to catch him before he was smacked in the face by the troll child. He grunted under the weight. Even newborn trolls were pretty hefty, and six-year-old Dusty was rapidly approaching the limit to what the human man could handle.

Still, he offered a laugh at his little cousin’s enthusiasm. “Whoa, you’re getting big!” he commented, both as a compliment and a warning. He didn’t want the excitable little guy tackling Anna as well and possibly hurting her.

Dusty ignored him, instead directing his attention to the princess. “Hi, miss!” he said, waving cheerfully. “You’re really pretty!”

Anna blushed at the compliment but smiled back at him brightly. “Thank you. You are pretty adorable yourself.”

Kristoff couldn’t help but smile at the warmth she directed toward his little family members.

“Thank you!” Dusty hopped out of Kristoff’s arms and hugged Anna’s leg. As if that were a cue, the two humans were suddenly surrounded by small trolls, all calling out and demanding attention at once.

“Why did Kristoff bring you, miss?”

“What’s your name?”

“Do you want to play with us? Kristoff always has the best games!”

“Are you Kristoff’s girlfriend?”

“Are you gonna get married?”

The last two questions nearly made Kristoff choke on his own spit, but Anna took it all with good humor. Kristoff took a moment to be grateful that she was familiar with the antics of small children.

“My name is Anna. Kristoff is my friend,” Anna explained patiently to her enraptured audience. “He’s helping me with something, and that’s why he brought me here.”

She did not acknowledge the more embarrassing questions, but the promise of an interesting story was enough to distract the young trolls. A quick glance at Bulda proved that his mother would not be so easily diverted.

“And what exactly is my son helping you with, dear?” Bulda asked, regarding the two with a shrewd expression.

“Ma!” Kristoff explained, but Anna jut waved him away with an amused expression.

“Well, I had a bit of a family emergency, and Kristoff was kind enough to escort me up the mountain.”

Bulda nodded. “I take it your family emergency has something to do with the magic winter that has suddenly taken over the kingdom.” It wasn’t really a question.

Anna nodded, not appearing surprised in the least that the troll woman knew her identity.

_Well, if I remembered, it stands to reason they would too. It wasn’t like it was that long ago for them._

“Yeah. Unfortunately, the reunion went about as well as expected.” Anna’s voice turned sad at that admission, and Kristoff could see the motherly concern leap into Bulda’s eyes. He was glad to see it, to be honest. Anna could use someone fussing over her for once.

“And how was that?” Bulda asked gently.

Anna shrugged, her eyes down. Kristoff took her hand again to offer comfort. He knew very well what his ma would read into that action, but he didn’t care. She was his friend, and she was upset. If he could offer her reassurance, he was going to. Plain and simple.

“She refused to listen to me and lost control of her magic,” Anna admitted. Kristoff squeezed her hand. She squeezed back.

“Oh, honey,” Bulda nearly cooed at the distressed princess. “Love can be as terrible as it is wonderful at times. Especially when those we love are too wrapped up in their own fears to see anything else. People make bad choices when they’re mad or scared or stressed. But you can’t give up on them. You need to keep loving them until they are ready to see things as they are.”

Anna nodded, still not looking up. She leaned her head against Kristoff’s shoulder. He let go of her hand to wrap an arm around her. Bulda gave him an approving smile that he purposely did not contemplate.

_I knew Ma would read too much into it if I brought Anna here. Don’t see that I had much choice, though._

That thought reminded Kristoff of why exactly he had brought Anna to his family. “Ma, we need to talk to Grand Pabbie. It’s important.”

Bulda started to say something and then stopped. She frowned. She eyed Anna’s hair critically for a moment. She reached out as if to touch one of her braids but stopped herself. “I remember you coming out of our last meeting with a bit of white in your hair, dear, but not this much.”

Anna nodded slowly. In the time since they left the mountain, the white had spread. At this point, the magic had almost completely overtaken her natural hair color. Kristoff was certain his own was the same, but it was mostly hidden beneath his hat. “That’s what happened when she lost control.”  
“Where did she strike you?” Grand Pabbie’s ancient voice broke in. Kristoff’s arm around her shoulders was the only thing that kept Anna from falling over in surprise. Kristoff managed to hold back a chuckle. He was long used to Grand Pabbie’s habit of appearing out of nowhere. It had caused him no end of startle-related accidents as a kid.

Anna laid a hand over her chest, and Grand Pabbie hissed in frustration. “That,” he said with a sigh, “that will make things more complicated. A strike to the heart is the most dangerous of all.”

Kristoff winced. “Is there anything you can do for us, Grand Pabbie?” he asked.

Grand Pabbie looked at Kristoff in surprise. “Us?”

Kristoff removed his arm from Anna’s shoulders and slowly pulled off his hat, showing the white that had replaced his normally blonde hair. Many of the trolls around them gasped, and Bulda grasped his hand worriedly. “She struck you too?” she asked him fearfully.

“She didn’t mean to,” Kristoff insisted quickly, not completely sure why he was defending the queen.

“I’m certain she didn’t,” Grand Pabbie agreed with a tired sigh. “I’d wager the poor girl isn’t doing much of anything on purpose right now. But that doesn’t mean her actions do not still hold consequences that need to be dealt with.”

“Then how do we deal with them?” Bulda asked quickly, her concern evident in her voice.

Grand Pabbie gave his great granddaughter a smile. “The only way to thaw a frozen heart is through an act of true love.”

Kristoff frowned. “Wait, how are we supposed to—”

Grand Pabbie interrupted him with a chuckle. “Your situation is quite easy to fix, Kristoff. There is someone who truly loves you standing right beside you.”

Kristoff frowned, wondering if Grand Pabbie was trying to set him up with Anna even with everything going on, but Bulda spoke up before he could say anything. “Of course, there is,” she said. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Kristoff closed his eyes as a rush of warmth ran through his body, chasing away the cold that had been growing steadily worse ever since the Queen had accidently lashed out at him and Anna with her magic. He couldn’t help the sigh of relief that escaped him.

He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of Bulda smiling brightly at him, still standing on Cliff. She reached out and ran a gentle hand through his hair. “There we go,” she said brightly. “Much better.”

Kristoff looked at Anna, who was smiling as well, although she was looking even more weak and pale than before. “Your hair is b-blond again, Kristoff,” she said, stuttering slightly as a shiver wracked her slim frame. Out of the corner of his eye, Kristoff could see Bulda looking concerned.

“But I thought Grand Pabbie said…” Kristoff trailed off, a realization dawning in his mind.

The ancient troll chuckled. “Who on Earth ever said true love must be romantic? The love of parents, siblings, friends—while different—are no less true and certainly no less powerful.”

Anna smiled, looking hopeful for the first time since they had been violently expelled from her sister’s ice palace.

“and who do you love truly, dear?” Bulda asked her gently. Anna looked at the motherly troll with a soft expression that Kristoff easily recognized.

“Nora,” the princess answered. “My baby sister. I love her more than anything.”

Grand Pabbie offered her an approving smile. “Then you must go to her. If the ice manages to spread completely through your heart, you will freeze solid and be lost forever.”

Anna paled at that warning. Or maybe it was just another rush of cold, it was hard to tell. Either way, Kristoff smiled at her, trying to offer reassurance. “Don’t worry, we won’t let that happen.”

Anna looked up at him and tried to answer, but her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed. Kristoff managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

_Okay, so it was the magic._

“Sven, Olaf!” Kristoff called. Sven trotted up from where he and Olaf had been watching at the edge of the clearing, Olaf hanging off one of his antlers and watching Anna with wide, scared eyes.

Kristoff scooped Anna up into his arms and stood. “Thank you, Grand Pabbie,” he said, nodding to the elder. “We will set off for the castle right now.”

Grand Pabbie nodded. “Safe travels, grandson. May your path be smooth.”

Kristoff hoisted himself up onto Sven’s back, keeping Anna cradled in front of him as she was too weak to hold on by herself. He took a quick moment to assure that Olaf was not in danger of falling off or being left behind. Then he urged Sven into a gallop.

“Let’s go find Nora!” Olaf cheered as they took off into the winter afternoon.


End file.
